In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

M A L I CK SI DI BE PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A PORTRAITIST A film by Su sa n Voge l Nat ional Museum of Mal i First Run / Icarus Films, 2006 Port rait of t he Art ist as a Young Man, Port rait of t he Art ist as a Young Dog, Mandela: The Aut horized Port rait , Royal Port rait of King Misha Mi-Shyaang A-Mbul, Malick Sidibe: Port rait of t he Art ist as Port rait ist — t hese and count Less ot her port rait s t hr oughout hist ory offer a moment ary snapshot of an i ndi vidual subj ect in an accessibl e present . Appr oaches t o port rait ure vary as wi dely as subj ect mat t er, of t en cal l ing i nt o quest i on t he def init ion of what a port rait is. From Jean Bor gat t i 's early essay on f ormal Af rican port rait ure t o Lauri First enberg's recent and el oquent reading of t he hist ory of post col oni al st udi o phot ogr aphy, w hat can be agreed is t hat t he agency of t he port rait ist is i nescapabl y f ound in each and every port rait . -1 Susan Vogel , in her f ilm Malick Sidibe: Port rait of t he Art ist as a Port rait ist becomes i mpl i cat ed as part i ci pant by si mpl y t i t l i ng t he wonderf ul shor t f ilm "a port rait of " t he phot ogr apher . In t hat t hi s f ilm t akes t he genre of port rait , not t hat of a document ary or didact ic video, I have decided t o review i t as such. Though much is writ t en on t he art ist and his work, I will primarily review t he i nf or mat i on provided in t he f ilm rat her t han of f er a separat e suppor t i ve hi st or y of t he art ist . For t hi s is a review of a port r ai t —a snapshot of t he ar t i st —n ot an assessment of Si di be's phot ogr aphi c oeuvre. Just bef ore t he openi ng scene of t he f il m, where we see Si di be's st udi o in Bamako, t he f ol l owi ng t ext i s writ t en across t he screen: Malick Si di be st art ed out as a local phot ogr apher in Bamako. Af t er Mali became i ndependent in 1960, his snazzy st udi o port rait s and part y shot s capt ured t he buoyant opt i mi sm of t he new nat i on. Today t hey are recognized as mast erpieces and Malick is world f amous. And world f amous he i s. Si di be's work has been show n in many i mpor t ant exhi bi t i ons, i ncl udi ng You Look Beaut i f ul Like That : The Por t r ai t Phot ogr aphs of Seydou Kei't a and Malick Sidibe in 2001 and has won si gnif icant awards such as t he Golden Lion f or Lif et ime Achi evement Award at t he 51st Venice Bei nnal e in June 2007. His submi ssi on f or t he Biennal e was a phot ogr aphi c series of t he Afrique chant e cont re le SIDA proj ect . The i mages are new, not a col l ect ion of his most memorable work, but a t r i but e t o memory nonet hel ess. The subj ect s are seen in his st udi o, st aged in t he same set t i ng as some...

pdf

Share