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Paper short abstract:

This paper presents a broad outline of Félix Diallo's career as commercial photographer in the Circle of Kita, located in rural southwestern Mali, in the 1950-1980s.

Paper long abstract:

As many of his colleagues, Félix Diallo (1931-1997) created throughout his career a precious photographic archive. He did this in very challenging conditions: isolated from urban centers and suppliers, without running water or electricity. His body of work informs on Malian society and the region of Kita during the third quarter of the twentieth century. Even with the large part of his production destroyed or damaged, his rescued archives expose thirty years of photography executed with talent and passion. I will present Félix Diallo's path as first commercial photographer of Kita until his death in 1997. Following that, I will conclude this presentation by discussing the recent activity on Diallo's archives, specifically its entire digitization in Mali under the auspices of the Archive of Malian Photography project.