Gala Ball, Bamako,1962 © Malick SidibÈ

About ten years ago, Sidibé was discovered by the developed world and, on the strength of his studio portraits, awarded some prestigious photography prizes. The new book Malick Sidibé, The Portrait of Mali (Skira/Rizzoli) shows some of these studio portraits, but also takes a fuller look at his photographic oeuvre, including previously unpublished pictures shot at parties and sporting events, on dusty streets and beaches. Finally there’s a series of color images from the photographer’s home village of Soloba, whose modest mud huts are a far cry from the stylish parties of Bamako.

While not as polished and professional as the studio portraits, the images from outside the studio are in some ways more revealing. The 1960s pictures from clubs and parties, for instance, show stylish young men and women joyously jiving to western music. This looks innocent enough until you consider that Mali’s socialist government was at the time rounding up youth in bell-bottoms and miniskirts and sending them for “re-education.” Participating in and documenting this youth culture explosion was, in itself, somewhat subversive.