Malian top photographer laid to rest

Mali bid a final farewell on Saturday to Malick Sidibe, an award-winning photographer considered a national treasure for his unique studio portraits and candid black-and-white depictions of popular culture in his West African homeland.

The award winning photographer, who died on Thursday, is known for his black and white studio portraits that captured the lives of young Malians in the 1960s and 1970s mostly.

Malick Sidibé, who captured Mali’s postcolonial youth culture in striking photographs, has died at the age of 80: https://t.co/Fg40T61i9v— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) April 16, 2016

“Malick Sidibe, who is known for photography has been able to build a perfect memory of the social classes in Mali. This is not different with his departure to the collective memory of the eternity world,” said Ms. N’Diaye Ramatoulaye Diallo, Minister of Culture

Hundreds of people – from Mali’s arts scene, Sidibe’s family and the government – gathered before he was laid to rest within a Bamako neighbourhood where he lived much of his life in a modest house amongst his extended family.

Sidibé’s photography archives totals tens of thousands of negatives, and his photographs are now held in collections across the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Getty Museum in California.