Mali Through The Lens

Mali Thu 05-11-2009

Mali Through The Lens
By Mia Collis

^{Right click on the image and play to view slide show}

AfricanColours gave me a fantastic opportunity to travel to Bamako in Mali as the Kenyan participant for FAIVA - Festival Africain d’Images Virtuelles Artistiques, set up by Soleil d’Afrique a Bamako based arts organization.

FAIVA is a fringe festival off the African Photography Biennial - Encounters of Bamako 09, which took place in the same week.

9 international video artists & photographers from all over Africa joined with 12 Malian artists for one week of workshops, talks & exhibitions in the Malian capital.

The biennial also attracted over 100 international industry professionals, photographers, curators, gallery-owners and agents with the aim of setting up a real channel for African photography making the biennial the largest African Photographic festival in history.

Amongst a bombardment of new languages, colours, faces, smells, noises and tastes that West Africa encompasses - the experience of travelling through the vibrancy of colourful markets on dusty little streets in Bamako to a world class lecture in Musee National Mali or photographic opening in the Palais de la Culture along the River Niger felt surreal.

Armed with lenses and camera, I spent many hours driving in taxis and cars to different events and quickly began to realize that my own shoots were going to be predominantly out of car windows- depicting a changing and modern Bamako.

The crème de la crème came when FIAVA exhibited video instillations from the visiting artists. We projected at night onto an enormous monument on a very busy roundabout in the centre of the city.

Different to the biennials international clients (predominantly Western audiences) this allowed for hundreds of local Malians to see for themselves the artwork of other African video artists and photographers. The screenings attracted hundreds of people.

My trip came to a close with a talk & presentation of my work for which coincided with a lecture in the same room as Simone N’jami- Africa’s (& arguably) one of the worlds top curators. Spontaneously Simone ended up doing a quick critique of my work for the workshop participants of which as a photographer I could ask for nothing more.

Thank you Soleil d’Afrique for flying me there and of course AfricanColours for this fabulous opportunity!

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