Tag: A la mode Bobolaise

Exhibition dates: 5th April – 31st May 2019

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le plein chez Total, route de Banfora (Full at Total, Banfora Road)
1974
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

The Equilibrist

I love these photographs. They are so direct, so honest.

The use of flash is magnificent. The square format perfect.

The players, that is the subjects, are characters on the stage of life. They know exactly what they are doing, self directing, directed by the photographer (using his commercial studio experience) into – pow! – that pose. They show off, they goof for the camera, they wear their best clothes, they lean on their cars. Here there is an innate balance between the photographer and his subjects.

There are intimate moments and moments of pure fun (such as Les Trois Cowboys de la Brousse (The Three Cowboys of the Bush), 1971 below), kitsch even. There is an immense pride and joy that emanates from these images – of human stories, of friendship, of dance and music. People escaping their ordinary lives. The people and their world are beautiful.

Unlike the close intimacy (the camera up close and personal), unexpected moments, and in motion photographs of Studio 54 and the New York City nightclub scene by Larry Fink – “where Fink’s subjects are caught off-guard by his camera, and their expressions provide windows into their weariness or giddy party euphoria” – here the photographer stands off at a mid-length distance allowing the surrounding context to add texture to the portraits. Doors, walls (with attached photographs), vegetation, cars and the night background his incisive “flash”, that recognition of just the right moment to take the photograph – even though, and perhaps because, the subjects are in on the act. To capture not just an image, but a feeling.

These people of the night are crystallised in these crystalline tableaux (“he writes a crystalline prose”), spectacular images that make you want to love them all the more. Oh, what it is to be human!

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx to David Hill Gallery for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. There are more ecstatic photographs from this photographer from the book Sory Sanlé – Volta Photo 1965-1985 (2017) on the British Journal of Photography website.

 

 

“We fulfilled people’s fantasies. We gave them a chance to experiment, to escape their ordinary lives”

Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les jeunes danseurs de Sikasso Sira (The young dancers of Sikasso Sira)
1972
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Valse a Bobo (Waltz a Bobo)
1968
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
A la mode Bobolaise (Bobolaise fashion)
1983
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Ali et Sita en soiree (Ali and Sita in the evening)
1974
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Bobo a gogo
1975
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
D’Adamo aux Beatles (From Adamo to the Beatles)
1969
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Deux couples dansant le blues (Two couples dancing the blues)
1979
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Fete au Volta dancing
1982
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Ford Fairlane decapotable (Ford Fairlane convertible)
1966
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
La 4L et son maitre (The 4L and his master)
1970
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
La cliente de la Calebasse d’or (The client of the Golden Calabash)
1969
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Laissez-moi entrer (Let me in)
1967
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le diable noir (The black devil)
1975
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le Malien et ses chaussures a la mode (Malian and his fashionable shoes)
1975
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory’s Peuple de la Nuit portraits capture the vibrant youth culture, dance parties and flourishing music scene of his home city, a Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, West Africa. This expansive collection of images, taken between the years 1960-1985 have been unveiled for the first time in a stunning exhibition and book.

Recently unearthed from Sanlé’s personal archive, Peuple de la Nuit is an evocative tribute to the nightlife of a distant era. This collection of black-and-white photographs the carefree spirit of Sanlé’s subjects, including the musicians, dancers and lovers that graced some of Bobo’s hippest venues – Volta Dancing, Calebasse d’Or, Normandie and Dafra Bar.

Eager to portray the region’s unique energy and passion, Sory would set off towards the remote villages along the Kou Valley, north West of Bobo. Driving in his Volta Photo Citroen 2CV van carrying a few lights and a home-made sound system, Sanlé would stage his own Bals Poussière (dustball parties) which often lasted until well after sunrise – at which point the farmers and herders would head straight back to tend their fields and cattle.

Born in 1943 in Burkina Faso, back when it was still a French colony known as Republique de HauteVolta, Sanlé Sory began to take photographs in 1960 – the year the country regained independence. After cutting his teeth working as an apprentice to a Ghanian photographer for several years, by 1960 Sanlé had established his own studio, Volta Photo, in his hometown, Bobo-Dioulasso, which instantly became a cultural hub for the city’s most stylish residents – young and old, rich and poor.

After working long days there, Sory would often go out and shoot the vibrant nightlife of his hometown and surrounding areas, amassing hundreds of photos spanning several decades which remained undiscovered until well into his 70s.

Now exhibited for the very first time at the David Hill Gallery in London and coinciding with a book of the same name published by Stanley / Barker, Peuple de Nuit is a fascinating portrait of youth culture and the enigmatic night-time scene during the first decades of African independence.

 

SANLÉ SORY was born in 1943 in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Sanlé began to take photographs in 1960 and learnt his trade working as an apprentice to a Ghanaian photographer, where he was taught how to process and print photographs and how to use a Rolleiflex twin lens camera. Whilst working as a freelance reporter and shooting record covers, Sanlé decided studio photography was his calling and in 1960 had opened the Volta Photo studio in his hometown, Bobo-Dioulasso, which became an instant hit with locals. It was only at the age of 74 while living in obscurity that his work was discovered by the French record producer and archivist Florent Mazzoleni, who came across him while researching a project on West African music. A fan of Sory’s album covers, Mazzoleni went to meet his at his studio – only to find the photographer burning his vintage negatives. In 2013 he was given a solo show at the Institut Français du Burkina Faso in both Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso. 2017 saw the release of his first book Volta Photo 1960-1985 with an accompanying exhibition at David Hill Gallery. In 2018, his work was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, when he became the first African photographer to have a solo exhibition at an American museum. The was also an exhibition at the Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, and his work was part of the Autophoto at the Fondation Cartier, Paris.

Text from the David Hill Gallery website [Online] Cited 21st April 2019

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le musicien (The musician)
1967
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le quart d’heure rumba à la soirée privée (The quarter of an hour rumba at the private party)
1977
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Le repos des danseurs (The rest of the dancers)
1978
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
L’equilibriste (The Equilibrist)
1972
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les deux AMI 8
1975
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les deux amourex de Dogona (The two lovers of Dogona)
1972
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les noceurs de Banzon (Banzon’s swingers)
1972
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les sans soucis de Dogona (The carefree Dogona)
1980
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Les Trois Cowboys de la Brousse (The Three Cowboys of the Bush)
1971
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Posons maintenant! (Let’s pose now!)
1976
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Sapeurs mossi de nuit (Mossi Sapeurs of the night)
1975
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Surprise party en ville (Surprise party in town)
1974
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Yacouba Zero
1970
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Yeye le dur (Yeye the hard)
1973
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Soirée dansante à la maison (Dancing party at home)
1968
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

Sanlé Sory (West African, b. 1943)
Une biere pour moi (A beer for me)
1980
Gelatin silver print
© Sanlé Sory

 

 

David Hill Gallery
345 Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington,
London W10 6HA, UK

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 4.30pm
Other times by appointment

David Hill Gallery website

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