Studio Volta Photo made by Sebastien Girard
Sory Sanlé
Studio Volta Photo made by Sebastien Girard
Photographs: Sory Sanlé
Publisher: Sebastien Girard and Yossi Milo
76 pages
Pictures: 74
ISBN: 978-2-9534516-4-1
Comments: Spiral bounds, 33 by 25,5cm, risograph printing. Edited by Sebastien Girard. edition of 500 copies signed by the photographer.
Born in 1943 in Nianiagara, Burkina Faso
Lives and works in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
Ibrahima Sory Sanlé started his photographic career in Bobo-Dioulasso the very year his country became independent from France in 1960 under the name of République de Haute-Volta. As a young apprentice working with a Ghanaian boss, he learnt to work with a photographic chamber, before processing and printing his own pictures Like many African photographers of his generation, he chose the 6x6 format. He was privileged enough to document the fast evolution of his own city, Bobo-Dioulasso, then Haute-Volta's cultural and economic capital.
He captured the frontal collision between modern life and centuries-old traditions from this culturally rich and rural region.
He started his career by documenting highway wrecks in and around Bobo, travelling on motorbike all over the region. In the mid-1960's,
he opened up his own Volta Photo, soon to become the city's finest photo studio. Fully dedicated to his art and work, he followed his own rule : « the more you like something, the more you invest yourself in your passion ».
He worked as a reporter, a record sleeve illustrator, an official photographer but mostly as a clever studio photographer. Very active,
he portrayed Bobo-Dioulasso's people with wit, energy and sheer passion. His background paintings, be they a modern city, a beach walkboard, an airplane or an antique column were quite outstanding and unlike those of any other photographers in his own country.
Be they still or moving maliciously, his subjects illustrate in many ways the remoteness and melancholy of African cities landlocked deep in the hearf of the continent. They also convey some youthful exuberance in the wake of the first decades of African independences. His lens witfully reviewed the natural fusion operating between tradition and modernity. His black and white images truly magnified this golden era before 24x36 format and common color films added up to what William Eggleston called the « democratic forest », an endless dilution of the photographic view within public space.
Unknown, forgotten or unsung, Voltaic photography's golden age is fully embodied by Sory Sanlé whose images, preserved for many decades, display some unique social and cultural effervescence. Adorned with some natural elegance, his Bobo-Dioulasso's photographies stand in for Renoir's words according to which « the more local, the more universal ».
anonym author
more books by Sory Sanlé
-
Peuple De La Nuit (Special edition with print)
by Sory Sanlé
sold -
Studio Volta Photo (Special Edition)
by Sory Sanlé
Euro 700
more books tagged »portraits« | >> see all
-
Photography 1979 to the Present
by Thomas Ruff
sold -
An Autobiography (SIGNED AND DEDICATED to a famous printer)
by Richard Avedon
sold -
Hitoe (SIGNED)
by Michio Yamauchi
Euro 75 -
Whereupon
by Allen Frame
Euro 70 -
The Dancers
by Itsuro Naraki
sold -
The Sketch of Kanto Area
by Issei Suda
sold
more books tagged »africa« | >> see all
-
BAY OF BENGAL 180215
by Merlin Lev
sold -
Particulars (ONE OF THE 25 COPIES WITH A PRINT)
by David Goldblatt
sold -
INTERSECTIONS
by David Goldblatt
Euro 40 -
TOUTE ARME FORGÉE CONTRE MOI SERA SANS EFFET (BACK IN STOCK)
by Colin Delfosse
sold -
Studio Photo Nationale (Signed and Nbd)
by Samuel Fosso
sold -
The Hyena & Other Men (Signed first edition)
by Pieter Hugo
sold
more books tagged »risograph« | >> see all
-
HIKARI 2024 (Edt of 50)
by Collective
sold -
Dilemna (Signed Edt of 100)
by Kingsley Ifill
sold -
Interference 5 (EDT OF 25) SIGNED
by Maycec
sold -
Tubes
by Maxime Verret
sold -
Cosmos (Edt of 100)
by Collective
sold -
MAY YOU STAY (EDT OF 150 SIGNED)
by Elie Monferier
Euro 28
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com