Africa in the 50s-70s of the last century through the lens of Malik Sidibé

For a person in West Africa, this is either national parks and tourist attractions or endless wars and children dying of hunger. It is very rare to see photographs reflecting other aspects of the life of this continent. In this sense, Mali-based photographer Malik Sidibé's photographs provide a unique opportunity to look at Africa with different eyes.

An African photographer from the state of Mali photographed fashionable African youth of the 1950s-1970s in elegant clothes, dancing fashionable European dances, and refuted the notion of Africa as a continent of starving children and their wild parents. It may seem to some that Sidibé avoided the "life truth" that Western reporters love so much - however, he simply showed the other side of African life.

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1. Malik Sidibé was born in 1935 to a Fula-speaking family in a small village in Mali. He graduated from school in 1952. After being recognized for his talent as a draftsman, he was accepted into the Sudanese Crafts School in Bamako, from which he graduated in 1955.

2. Malik decorated the shop of Gerard Guillat "Photoservice", and Guillat offered him a place as an apprentice. So Malik began photography in 1956. He opened the Malik Studio in 1958 in the center of Bamako in Bagadaji, on 30th Street, where he still prints portraits and fixes cameras.

3. The roaring 50s and independence spawned a new generation of photographers fully involved in the cultural and social life they documented.

4. Malik Sidibe was the main character in this. Highly esteemed by the youth, he attended all the soirees where the elegantly dressed club youth learned new dances from Europe and Cuba.

5. In 1957, he was the only reporter in Bamako covering all events, holidays and parties. On Saturdays, these parties lasted until dawn and continued on Sunday on the banks of the Niger River.

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8. He took simple pictures, truthful creating a sense of presence. They feel carefree and spontaneous - he shot fun, full of laughter and life.

9. He retired from active work in 1978, but continued to shoot in the studio and repair cameras. When his work received international recognition, new horizons opened up for him.

10. People crowded in his studio, magazines bought photo reports, he is invited everywhere to photo exhibitions and conferences. In 2003 he received the Hasselblad Award.

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