Turban Chic: Malick Sidibé’s Mali

I’d juuuuust been introduced to Malick Sidibé’s work about a week ago, and today he passed away at the age of 80.

“Malick Sidibé was a photographer known for his black-and-white images chronicling the exuberant lives and culture, often of youth, in his native Bamako, Mali in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Sidibé’s work documents a transitional moment as Mali gained its independence and transformed from a French colony steeped in tradition to a more modern independent country looking toward the West. He captured candid images in the streets, nightclubs, and sporting events and ran a formal portrait studio.”

One of my many takeaways from Sidibe’s beautiful photos is that the turban looks in mid-century Mali were strooooong. These are some of my favorites.

Mademoiselle Durnrou Saugaré, 1969-2009