zero focus

Malick Sidibé……made many fine portraits as well, generally working with hipper, less formal poses than (Seydou) Keïta did and shooting more often at night and at parties. There’s one portrait of Sidibé’s in particular that I’m always drawn to. A woman stands alone in a sleeveless blouse and an ankle-length skirt. She has sandals on her feet, a pendulous earring in each ear and hair woven close to her scalp. Her address to the camera is direct. No, she’s not quite alone: A man’s shoulder and arm are visible just to her left. We also see his right shoe and half of his right leg. But the rest of him has been dodged away in the printing of the picture.

On the brown paper border that frames the photograph are written the words: “Je veux être seule. 1979 — Malick Sidibé.” On the right border are Sidibé’s signature and the date 2009. I suppose Sidibé signed this photograph in 2009 and wrote down what the woman told him 30 years earlier, before he had printed the photograph: “Je veux être seule” (‘‘I want to be alone’’). This young woman, like many others in Sidibé’s work, has decided her own image. The photo’s peculiarity is the mark of her authority.  (TEJU COLE)