Djeneba had just enjoyed a painting workshop led by the young Malian artist Amadou Sanogo. Instead of doing a self-portrait on paper, she decided it would be more fun to paint her face directly. Djeneba lives in an orphanage where Amadou leads regular art workshops.
The week before I left Bamako we celebrated the end of my exhibition Le Récit Intime de Fanta Kaba with a themed ‘soirée’ - dancers, music, images and video projected on a screen outside the Bla Bla Club and live interaction with the general public and the traffic on the rue Princesse…. It was quite a scene.
The Italian choreographer Anouscka Brodacz has been working on dance projects in Africa for many years. She is also involved in a project to help rehabilitate women who have suffered from complicated pregnancies and long labour, resulting in obstetric fistula. These young women are often abandoned by their families and left to cope alone. I accompanied Anouscka to document some of her work. These are pictures taken at a tailoring School in Bamako where the women will have an opportunity to learn new skills and earn money.
It was with great excitement that I installed the exhibition of my photographs Le Récit Intime de Fanta Kaba at Bla Bla Club in Badalabougou, Bamako on 3 November.
The pictures were taken over a four month period of workshops, residencies, rehearsals and performances - in Bamako, Brest and Annecy. The exhibition is a visual narrative of the character Fanta Kaba and explores themes and ideas that emerged and re-emerged during the development process.
I was the official photographer for the 2011 edition of Dense Bamako Danse. Here are a few of my favourite moments:
Outdoor work devised by Anouscka Brodacz for young Bamako-based dancers.
Dancer Ousmane Kone
Girls watching dancer Aly Karembe and performer/writer Morgane Rey in the courtyard of La Grande Famille Bagayako.
By the end of October posters were going up in Magnambougou, Bamako for the contemporary dance festival Dense Bamako Danse. The poster image is a photograph I took at last year’s urban carnival parade through the town centre.
Pixelini was a festival of digital arts, creativity and technology, organised as part of an EU funded project Rose des Vents Numériques, and bringing together artists and organisations from Mali (Collectif Yeta), Senegal (Ker Thiossane), South Africa (The Trinity Session) and France. This photo is of an interactive, multi-discipline performance in an empty swimming pool at Collectif Yeta’s base in Sogoniko, Bamako.
And this was taken much later in the evening at the Palais de la Culture - Pixeldonke Fo Ka Segue (Dance with pixels till you drop).
Nelisiwe Xaba was one of 8 choreographers/dancers from Africa who participated in an artistic residency in the opulent setting of the Villa Medici in Rome in September. The residency concluded with performances at the Teatro Quirino. This photo is of Nelisiwe Xaba performing her solo work Plasticization.
A leisurely few days in Belleville, Paris at the end of the summer - walking in the sunshine in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont one minute, and watching the rain the next.
Over the August bank holiday weekend I accompanied a group of Brazilian carnival artists to Notting Hill. Having not been to Carnival for a number of years, it was great to have a VIP pass and be well positioned for taking pictures.
