SEYDOU KEI
̈
TA
Malian
Seydou Keı ̈ta is Mali’s best known photographer.
He operated a highly successful portrait photogra-
phy studio in the capital city of Bamako, during the
decades surrounding Mali’s independence from
France in 1960. However, his international recog-
nition and place in the world history of photogra-
phy did not arrive until the 1990s.
Born in Bamako, Keı ̈ta spent the early years of his
life as an apprentice carpenter to his father. When he
was 14 years old, his uncle returned from a trip to
Senegal with a Kodak Brownie, which he gave to
Keı ̈ta. He started by taking photographs of his family
and friends. Although he continued to work as a
cabinet maker, and had no official training in photo-
graphy, Keı ̈ta began photographing professionally in
- He learned to develop and print from a local
studio operator and photo shop owner, Frenchman
Pierre Garnier, as well as photographer Mountaga
Demble ́le ́, who also loaned him use of his darkroom.
In 1948, Keı ̈ta opened his own studio in a lively part
of the city. Around the same time he bought a 13 cm
18 cm box camera, which produced sharp contact
prints without the need of an enlarger.
As a commercial portrait photographer, Keı ̈ta has
said repeatedly that his only concern was to satisfy
his customers by presenting them clearly and in their
best possible light. Working in black and white,
using both natural and artificial light, Keı ̈ta’s por-
traits reflect this obligation to flatter his sitters—
sometimes resulting in characteristically unusual
compositions, such as bust-length portraits shot at
three-quarters or other angles. His output is also a
reflection of the social and political changes in
Bamako at this time. The city enjoyed rapid urbani-
sation and development at the end of the Second
World War, with workers streaming in from sur-
rounding regions. Keı ̈ta’s photographs catered to a
burgeoning middle class in the bustling new urban
centre (at that time a city of about 100,000 people),
including office clerks, shopkeepers, politicians, and
employees of the colonial government (such as
schoolteachers and soldiers). As a photographer,
Seydou Keı ̈ta’s role was to make his subjects look
like they belonged to the middle class of Bamako, to
make them feel modern andBamakois.
Following World War II, people in Bamako,
especially young men, began to wear European
clothes, which were viewed as stylish and fashion-
able. To meet this demand, Keı ̈ta had several Eur-
opean suits available in his studio, including a beret,
as well as accessories (watches, fountain pens,
watch-chains, plastic flowers, a radio, a scooter, a
bicycle, and an alarm clock). Some young sitters
consciously imitated characters they identified
with from American B-grade films. Keı ̈ta under-
stood the importance of picturing external signs of
wealth and beauty in his women sitters; he would
show off their large earrings and ornate hairstyles as
well as their long, slender fingers that were a sign of
high social standing. Although largely taken on the
bare ground in his courtyard, Keı ̈ta also used cloth
backdrops with decorative patterning. Sometimes
the backdrop matched the clothes, but Keı ̈ta
claimed this was mere coincidence. Between 1949
and 1952 he used his own fringed bedspread, but
later changed the backdrop every two to three years.
Today, these various fabrics are used as a reference
to date his work.
Keı ̈ta soon became well known for his portraits and
was never short of work. His studio was well located in
the centre of the city. During slow periods, two former
apprentices from his days as a carpenter took samples
of his work to the train station to invite business. In
interviews, Keı ̈ta spoke of the lines of people who used
to wait in front of his studio, especially on Saturday
evenings and Muslim holidays. As Keı ̈ta noted, ‘‘To
have your photo taken was an important event.’’
Following Mali’s independence from the French,
Keı ̈ta became the country’s official photographer
for the new socialist government in 1962. The gov-
ernment job offered prestige and, presented to him
as his patriotic duty, he reluctantly closed his studio.
He covered the main events of Mali’s first 15 years
of independence—presided over by President Mo-
bido Keı ̈ta and then ruled by the National Libera-
tion Military Committee—such as official visits and
meetings with heads of state. However, Keı ̈ta’s pic-
tures from this period are in government archives
and thus far, inaccessible.
Keı ̈ta retired in 1977, but to his surprise was
‘rediscovered’ and then celebrated by the Western
world in the 1990s (together with the youngerKEI ̈TA, SEYDOU