Les trois compères

Two friends standing, a third down on one knee, aiming a folding bellows camera straight at the lens: on the checkerboard floor of Volta Photo, the studio Sanlé Sory opened in Bobo-Dioulasso in 1960, the year of independence, people came to play a part. Toy rifle, dark glasses, camera: the props came out of the trunk the studio lent its sitters. Framed with the Rolleiflex in a square 6 × 6, never cropped, the scene playfully turns the tables, for here it is the sitter who takes aim at the photographer.

A landmark of African photography, Sanlé Sory is now held at MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum and LACMA. This black and white print comes as a limited edition numbered 2/8: digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, with museum framing and museum glass. See it in the exhibition Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 2/8
• Image : 36 × 36 cm
• Paper : 40 × 50 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

A toy rifle, dark glasses, a bellows camera aimed back at the lens: three friends turn the studio into a small theatre. West African studio photography of the independence years was first of all this, a social stage where people came to play a part. Long kept in trunks in Bobo-Dioulasso, Sanlé Sory's work was saved in 2011 by the French writer Florent Mazzoleni, before entering MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the V&A and LACMA.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)