Door in the Baobab tree, Mali, 2009

Ph by: Attila Jandi

Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé, 1987)

Mali, 1949. From the book Hector Acebes: portraits in Africa; 1948-1953; via archive.org

Couple à la moto by Mory Bamba, 1960

"The young Tinariwen are invited to a new camp near Tripoli. This camp was run by the MPA (Mouvement Populaire de l’Azawad), a Tuareg rebel movement fighting for a new independent state. There, they met a new group of aspiring musicians, including Kedou Ag Ossade (aka ‘Hiwaj’), Mohammed Ag Itlale (aka ‘Japonais’), Sweiloum, Abouhadid and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni. Their music became interlinked with the cause – the Tuareg’s fight for education, independence and political freedom. Working from a makeshift rehearsal studio, they wrote and recorded songs, free for anyone who turned up at their door with a blank cassette tape. Through the exchange of cassettes – often dubbed copies, or copies of copies – Tinariwen’s songs of hope, struggle and exile spread through settlements and camps across the Sahara." source

Boli sculpture depicts an animal such as hippopotamus or cow but in ritual use builds into a dark accumulation of mud, blood, and sacrificial materials in which the form becomes ambiguous.