Seydou Keita's Bamako Portraits Chronicle a City
Since 1949, professional photographer Seydou Keita of Bamako has created a substantial body of work consisting exclusively of portraits. Taken in his makeshift studio using natural light, these images form a genuine chronicle of the city and its era. Although often damaged by poor storage conditions, the photographs offer an extremely valuable testimony—not so much for their quasi-scientific taxonomic aspect of society by class and profession, but rather for the extraordinary quality of presence of the individuals photographed.
Key facts
- Seydou Keita was a professional photographer from Bamako.
- He began his portrait work in 1949.
- His archive consists exclusively of portraits.
- The portraits were taken in a makeshift studio using natural light.
- Many prints suffered from poor conservation conditions.
- The work is described as a chronicle of Bamako and its time.
- The value lies in the presence of the subjects, not in social taxonomy.
- The article was published in artpress in October 1994.
Entities
Artists
- Seydou Keita
Institutions
- artpress
Locations
- Bamako
- Mali
Sources
- artpress —