Portrait and Place - by Giulia Paoletti (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Strategically located on the Atlantic Ocean at the westernmost point of the continent, Senegal is well-known as an epicenter of Africa's modernities, modernisms, and liberation movements. It was also one of the countries where the daguerreotype first arrived in sub-Saharan Africa before circulating inland and across the region. At that time, Senegal did not exist as a nation state; local kingdoms were still in power and the French presence was limited to trading posts along the coast. The pioneers of photography in the 1840s were not exclusively Europeans, but also African, African-American, and Asian entrepreneurs. In the decades that followed, amateurs and professionals working in rural areas continued to explore and expand photography's possibilities. Senegal's photographic histories thrived as part of a global visual economy during and despite the colonial experience. Its works emerged as an integral part of the history of this medium, which unlike any other was a global enterprise from the very beginning. Portrait and place offers the first history of photography in this important country, from its first iterations, photographers, and patrons of the 1840s to photographers such as Oumar Ka (b. 1930) and Mama Casset (1908-1992), who were were active in the 1960s during the transition from the colonial to the postcolonial era. Giulia Paoletti presents close studies of photographs, firmly anchoring these objects, their authors, and their consumers in a global context that extends across West Africa, the Black Atlantic, and the greater Islamic community-in other words, beyond the borders of colonial empire. Based on over ten years of field and archival research in Senegal, this book features almost exclusively new, previously unpublished visual material and explores both professional and amateur artists working in a wide variety of genres, from landscape to portraiture, and in media such as daguerreotypes and glass paintings. As the first book to focus exclusively on Senegal's photographic histories, Portrait and place expands the notions of what the medium has been and can be, from a Eurocentric model to one that is decidedly-insistingly-larger and more inclusive"--

Book Synopsis

A richly illustrated history of photography in one of the epicenters of African modernity

When the daguerreotype first arrived in sub-Saharan Africa in the early nineteenth century, local kingdoms still held power in Senegal and the French presence was limited to trading outposts along the coast. The pioneers of photography in Senegal worked within, across, and beyond the borders of colonial empire, expanding the medium's possibilities and contributing to a global visual language. Portrait and Place explores these unique encounters, providing an in-depth and nuanced look at the images made at the intersection of Black Atlantic, Islamic, and African cultures.

Giulia Paoletti takes readers on a visual journey from the 1840s, when the oldest-surviving daguerreotype from West Africa was made, to the 1960s, when photography became the most popular medium as Senegal achieved its independence. She discusses some of Africa's most celebrated modernists, such as Mama Casset, and also offers insights into lesser-known photographers like Oumar Ka and once-anonymous figures such as Macky Kane. Paoletti examines both professional and amateur artists in genres ranging from portraiture to landscape and across media such as glass painting and lithography.

Featuring a wealth of breathtaking images published here for the first time, Portrait and Place brings to life the important histories of photography on the African continent.

Review Quotes

"Winner of The Photography Network Book Prize"

"Using portraits and pictures of places taken between the 1840's and 1960's, Giulia Paoletti... shows that the country enjoyed a thriving photographic tradition, especially among women."---Elizabeth Fitzherbert, The Lady

"[Portrait and Place] re-examine[s] the history of photography in [Senegal]. . . . Paoletti has built a timeline . . . unearthing unpublished gems, giving authorship to images long labelled anonymous, and dispelling many myths."---Thomas Page, CNN

"Presenting as much text as imagery, [Portrait and Place] offers a firm handhold in a rich and fascinating exploration of photography as an archival and artistic medium -- but it also allows an intimate glimpse of a place that holds its own self-image close."---Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperallergic

About the Author

Giulia Paoletti is assistant professor of art history at the University of Virginia. She is the coeditor of The Expanded Subject: New Perspectives in Photographic Portraiture from Africa.