Malick Sidibé 1935-2016

Malick Sidibé(b. Soloba, Mali; d. Bamako, Mali), a renowned Malian photographer, began his career by learning to develop and print negatives while working in a photo supply store in Bamako. His work went on to capture the spirit of Mali's independence, documenting the joy, energy, and optimism of youth culture in a newly liberated nation. Through dynamic scenes of celebration and studio portraits that juxtaposed fashionable subjects with bold, patterned backdrops, Sidibé showcased the cultural vibrancy and self-expression flourishing in post-independence Bamako during the 1960s onwards. 

Malick Sidibé's (d. 2016, Mali) magnificent portraits of sweeping personal and cultural changes in post-colonial Africa have been celebrated around the world. Positioned at the junction of Malian independence in 1960 and a period of rapid modernization, his works bear witness to the joy, insouciance and confidence of Africa's youth revolution. Since the initial world premiere of his work in 1997, Sidibé received the the Venice Biennale's Lifetime Achievement Award (2007), Hasselblad Award for Photography (2003) and the International Center of Photography's Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement (2008). His work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery (London), Fondation Cartier (Paris), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Corcoran Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), the Armand Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) among others and can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), SFMoMA (San Francisco), Birmingham Museum of Art, Studio Museum of Harlem, High Museum of Art (Atlanta), International Center of Photography (New York) and Moderna Museet (Stockholm).