Press release
Malick Sidibé, Mali Twist
In 1995, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented the first solo exhibition of the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé outside of the African continent. One year after the artist’s death on April 14, 2016, the Fondation Cartier pays tribute to him with Mali Twist, a large retrospective exhibition accompanied by a catalogue.
The exhibition is conceived and directed by André Magnin, in collaboration with Brigitte Ollier. Malick Sidibé, Mali Twist brings together for the first time his most exceptional and iconic photographs; period images he printed himself between 1960 and 1980; a selection of “folders” containing his evening shots; and a series of new portraits of timeless beauty. This exceptional collection of black-and-white photographs provides a thorough immersion in the life of the man who was nicknamed “the eye of Bamako.” The photographs reveal Malick Sidibé’s capacity, starting at the beginning of the 1960s, to grasp the vitality of the youth of Bamako and impose his unique style, recognized today throughout the world.