Elvis

Bare-chested, arms crossed behind dark glasses, a young man plants himself between the two spotlights that Sanlé Sory deliberately keeps in the frame, in front of the hanging canvas of the Volta Photo studio. White flared trousers, dark belt, heeled boots: in 1970s Bobo-Dioulasso you came to pose as a rock idol, and this silhouette earned the picture its title. Shot on a Rolleiflex in the square 6×6 format and never cropped, the portrait reveals the workings of the studio as much as the scene itself.

This limited edition print, number 6 of 8, is a digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, image 36 × 36 cm, delivered in a museum frame with museum glass. A landmark of african photography rediscovered in 2011, Sanlé Sory is held at MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the V&A and LACMA. This black and white print is on view in Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 6/8
• Image : 36 × 36 cm
• Paper : 40 × 50 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

Arms folded between the studio lamps, this young man plays a Western idol: West African studio photography of the independence years gave everyone a stage on which to reinvent themselves. The history of African photography places Sanlé Sory in the line of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé, whose portraits the MoMA has just shown side by side in Ideas of Africa. Working in Bobo-Dioulasso rather than a capital, Sory turned the pose into a game that museums now celebrate.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)