Mali at the Met

In and Out of The Studio: Photographic Portraits from West Africa is a new exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that seeks to highlight the tradition of photography in West Africa.  Beginning as early as the 1840's, elites hired photographers to take portraits as a means of both constructing and sharing their identities.

Too bad the exhibit was all the way in a back corner mezzanine of the museum, and I got more lost than usual trying to find it.  Considering the subject, I expected something grander.  What was missing here was visual representations of the historical and cultural context of the photographs.

On a positive note, I enjoyed seeing the glass negatives from the 20th century, and the photographs of the mixed race families in Saint-Louis, Senegal.  In and Out of The Studio runs until January 3rd.

Watch a video on featured photographer Malik Sidibé below: