Les amoureux de Sikasso Sira

When night fell, Sanlé Sory left the Volta Photo studio for the bals poussière he staged around Bobo-Dioulasso. Under an ink-black sky, against a bare wall set ablaze by the flash, a couple dances: he, in an open shirt and flared trousers, sketches a step with lowered eyes; she, in a long shimmering gown and knotted headwrap, opens her arms into the movement. The 6 × 6 square of the Rolleiflex, never cropped, holds the lovers' quiet grace at the heart of the party.

Printed in a limited edition of only 5, this large square black and white print is numbered 1/5: digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, museum framing and museum glass. A pioneer of African photography, Sanlé Sory is held at MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum and LACMA. The work is on view in Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 1/5
• Image : 55 × 55 cm
• Paper : 60 × 70 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

A couple entwined in the night of a bal poussière, caught by flash against a bare wall: here Sanlé Sory leaves the studio for the party. From 1960 to 1983 he would load the van with floodlights and set up his own dances in the villages around Bobo-Dioulasso, far from the capitals where Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé worked. That singular place in the history of African photography now sees him held at MoMA and LACMA.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)