Les amis des disques

Seven of them, and a vinyl record holding court at the centre, set on the checkerboard floor. Behind the group, the studio's painted backdrop shows a shopfront bearing the Volta Photo sign. Dark glasses, a white jacket, printed skirts, a tilted cap, a thumbs-up: the pose has the swagger of an album cover. Fitting, for Sanlé Sory, house photographer of the Volta Jazz orchestra, opened his studio in Bobo-Dioulasso in 1960 and framed a whole record-loving generation with his Rolleiflex, in a square 6 × 6 he never cropped.

Rediscovered in 2011 by Florent Mazzoleni, this master of African photography now belongs to the collections of MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum and LACMA. The black and white print is issued as a limited edition numbered 3/8: digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, museum framing, museum glass. It hangs in Generation Volta, the Sakana Gallery exhibition in Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 3/8
• Image : 36 × 36 cm
• Paper : 40 × 50 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

Seven music lovers around a vinyl record, beneath the painted Volta Photo sign: music runs through all of Sanlé Sory's work, house photographer of the Volta Jazz and cover artist for the town's 45s. It was a boxed set of records, Bobo Yéyé, that brought him back to light. His studio photography holds a place of its own in the history of African photography, between Bobo-Dioulasso and the collections of MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago and the V&A.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)