Paris Photo will celebrate its 15th anniversary at the Grand Palais this year. With a “Place of honour for Africa (…) From Bamako to Cape Town.”  This focus on Africa follows focuses on “Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Switzerland, Spain, the Nordic Countries, Italy, Japan, the Middle East and central Europe.”

Les Rencontres de Bamako exhibits the work of Abdoulaye Barry (Chad), Mohamed Camara (that’s a photo from his Souvenirs series above), Fatoumata Diabate (Mali), Husain and Hasan Essop and Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Uche Okpa-Iroha (Nigeria), Jehad Nga (Kenya/Libya), Nyani Quarmyne (Ghana), Arturo Bibang (Equatorial Guinea), Baudouin Mouanda (Congo-Brazzaville), Nyaba Ouedraogo and Nestor Da (Burkina Faso). Because there’s only so many African photographers to choose from these days all of them seemingly caught in a perpetual state of “emergence” –even if they’ve been around for years.

Les Rencontres de Bamako runs from 1 November 2011 to 1 January 2012.

Further Reading

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.

Empire’s middlemen

From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.