Le vendeur sénégalais qui fume

Dark sunglasses, a cigarette on his lip, a dark wool jacket over a white shirt and slim tie: in 1972 this Senegalese vendor posed at the Volta Photo studio in Bobo-Dioulasso with the poise of a film star. Behind him hang the studio canvas and a painted column, the unchanging set where Sanlé Sory let every sitter decide the image they would leave of themselves. Papers peek from the breast pocket, a true detail that roots the legend in daily life.

Numbered 6/6, this black and white print is the last of its limited edition: a gelatin silver print, museum frame, museum glass. An icon of African photography, Sanlé Sory has entered the collections of MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the V&A and LACMA. The work hangs in Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 6/6
• Image : 44 × 44 cm
• Paper : 50 × 65 cm
• Technique : Gelatin silver print
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

Dark sunglasses and a cigarette: this 1972 dandy is a reminder that studio photography, with Sanlé Sory, works as a social stage. No one is caught unawares; everyone comes to decide the image they will leave of themselves. By letting this vendor direct his own pose, Sory moves the history of African photography away from the ethnographic document and towards the chosen self-portrait, where a man from Bobo-Dioulasso asserts himself, for one shutter-click, as the star of his own life.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)