Les deux amis au bananier

Broad daylight in a Bobo-Dioulasso courtyard: a banana tree heavy with fruit on one side, a wall of earthen bricks on the other. Between them, two friends. One stands bare-chested in a traditional headdress with hanging flaps, a fringed skirt and a whisk of white fibres in his hand, barefoot in the dust. The other bursts out laughing as he looks at him, hat, open striped shirt, pendant, jeans and sneakers. Two worlds side by side, held in the same affectionate frame by Sanlé Sory.

This black and white print, number 1 of a limited edition of 8, is a Digigraphie on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper, museum framed under museum glass. Through the Volta Photo studio, open since 1960, Sanlé Sory became a cornerstone of African photography, now in the collections of MoMA and LACMA. On view in Generation Volta at Sakana Gallery, Donostia, until 1 October 2026.

Print details

• Edition : 1/8
• Image : 36 × 36 cm
• Paper : 40 × 50 cm
• Technique : Digigraphie print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 315 g paper
• Framing : Museum framing, museum glass

The West African studio photography of the independence years captured a generation poised between tradition and modernity, and this picture spells it out in broad daylight: on one side the ritual headdress and dance skirt, on the other jeans, sneakers and laughter. By carrying his Volta Photo camera into the courtyards of Bobo-Dioulasso, Sanlé Sory wrote that dialogue into the heart of the history of African photography, never ranking one world above the other.

All works by Sanlé Sory · Exhibition catalogue (PDF)