- Born
- Died
- Malik Sidibé was born in 1935 in French Sudan [now Mali]. He was an actor, known for Wand vor der Wand (2013), 19-2 (2011) and Je chanterai pour toi (2001). He died on April 14, 2016 in Bamako, Mali.
- He was an award-winning Malian photographer. His photos of Mali's post-colonial period showed the West African nation in a new light. He is especially known for his images of Malian youth and popular culture.
- He didn't attend school until he was 10, when he could be spared from shepherding duties by his father. In 1952 he won a place at the École des Artisans Soudanais in Bamako.
- In 2007, he became the first African winner of the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale.
- He got his break working in the studio of Bamako's leading society photographer, Gérard Guillat. Sidibé spent his nights at clubs, photographing party-goers with his Brownie camera. His portraits were so popular that he set up his own studio in 1962 and became known as "the Eye of Bamako".
- I believe with my heart and soul in the power of the image, but you also have to be sociable. I'm lucky. It's in my nature. It's a world, someone's face. When I capture it, I see the future of the world.
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