Tête-à-Têtes - West African Portraiture, from Independence into the 21st Century

David Hill and Carrie Scott are delighted to present Tête-à-Têtes: West African Portraiture from Independence into the 21st Century, a group show exhibiting the work of some of the most influential and important African photographers, including Sanlé Sory (b.1943), Rachidi Bissiriou, Malick Sidibé (1935-2016) and Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (v.1965). Opening on 18 September 2020 at the London Gallery and co-curated by Scott and Hill, the exhibition will celebrate the emergence of a new identity and style in post-colonial West Africa.

It began in Ghana in 1957. Three years later, independence swept across Africa like a wave. The new freedom saw the people embracing fashion and music to forge strong, new cultural identities. Photography boomed as people were keen to show their hip, Yé-yé style.

Focussing on Burkina Faso, Mali and Benin, this group show brings together the work of four of the most influential and important West African photographers, including Sanlé Sory (b.1943), Malick Sidibé (1935-2016), Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou (b. 1965), plus the previously unseen Rachidi Bissiriou (b. 1950). Tête-à-Têtes celebrates the emergence of a new identity in post-colonial West Africa, with about half of the work in the exhibition being previously unseen.

To run alongside the physical exhibition, a fifteen-minute film has been produced by Hill and Scott to accompany the show. It will launch in place of opening gala and will screen on demand from 18th September. In this, they discuss the region, then in the throes of change after gaining independence in the 1960, and the work of the four photographers within this context. Due to the global pandemic, the co-curators and exhibition partners felt film was the best way to bring the work to life at this time. For those in the UK, it is also possible also to sign up for a small personal exhibition tour with the curators.