Seydou Keïta’s photographs capture Malian culture during an era of radical transformation. Working as a commercial portrait photographer, he employed backdrops and props—including cars, vespas, and European clothing and accessories—that allowed sitters to construct new identities before the camera’s lens. His strikingly intimate photographs showcase his ability to draw out detail and emotion from his subjects and resonate with audiences across geographic and cultural borders.
Born in Bamako, Mali, between 1921 and 1923 (the exact date remains unknown), Keïta spent his youth working as a carpenter, following in the footsteps of his father. However, after receiving a Kodak Brownie Flash camera as a gift from his uncle in 1935, Keïta shifted his focus to photography.
Practicing by photographing his friends and family, Keïta opened his own photographic studio in downtown Bamako in 1948. One of the first studios in the city, Keïta’s clientele were primarily middle-class residents of the city. Keïta kept a selection of fashionable props that customers could pose with, as if their own. At the time, his photography was intimately connected to ideas of modernity and his studio became a place to explore new ways of fashioning the self.
This groundbreaking publication, which accompanies an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, draws on photography, personal ephemera, and textiles to explore the social and political realities of the period. Richly illustrated and supported with texts from leading scholars and writers, this book is the essential volume on Seydou Keïta
Contributors
Brooklyn Museum
Author
Catherine Mckinley
Author
Catherine McKinley is a writer, curator, and collector. She specializes in African and African American modern and contemporary art, textile traditions, fashion, and costume.
