Seydou Keïta was a self-taught portrait photographer from Bamako. He is mostly known for his portraits of people and families he took between 1940 and the early sixties and that are widely acknowledged not only as a record of Malian society, but also as pieces of art.

Biography

Seydou Keïta was born in 1921 in Bamako, although the exact date is unknown. He was the oldest in a family of five children. His father Bâ Tièkòró and his uncle Tièmòkò were furniture makers. Keïta developed an interest in photography when his uncle gave him a Kodak Brownie

Brownie (camera)

Brownie is the name of a long-running and extremely popular series of simple and inexpensive cameras made by Eastman Kodak. The Brownie popularized low-cost photography and introduced the concept of the snapshot. The first Brownie, introduced in February, 1900, was a very basic cardboard box camera...

 with a film with eight shots in 1935, after returning from a trip to Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

. In the beginning Keïta worked as both a carpenter and photographer, taking first portraits of his family and friends, later of people in the neighborhood. He learned photography and how to develop from Pierre Garnier, a French photographic supply store owner, and from Mountaga Traoré, his mentor. In 1948 he set up his first studio in the family house in Bamako-Koura behind the main prison.

External links

• Seydou Keïta’s Official Website.
• The photographs of Seydou Keita.
• Seydou Keita: Contemporary African Art Collection.
• Sedyou Keita at Gallery51.
• The Ghosts of Seydou Keita: Audio Slideshow from the New York Times.