From the press release:
M+B is pleased to announce “The Eye Of Bamako,” an exhibition of over thirty contemporary and vintage gelatin silver prints and chemises by internationally acclaimed Malian photographer Malick Sidibé. The 75-year old “Eye of Bamako’s” magnificent portraits of sweeping personal and cultural changes in post-colonial Africa have been celebrated around the world. Relatively unknown outside of Mali until the mid-1990s, Malick Sidibé was the first photographer to receive the prestigious Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 2007. This exhibition will include his iconic black and white photographs that recorded the history of his countrymen as well as the lesser-known “chemises”, or vintage proof sheet style works on construction paper. Positioned at the junction of Malian independence and a period of rapid modernization, the works exhibited bear witness to the joy, insouciance, and confidence of Africa’s youth revolution. The exhibition will run from February 5 through April 9, 2011, with an opening reception on Saturday, February 5, 2011 from 6 – 8 pm.

Sidibé’s ebullient images take place in a variety of settings: either outdoors in one of Mali’s newly minted nightclubs, house parties spinning the latest James Brown album, picnics on the banks of the River Niger, or indoors at Studio Malick. Regardless of setting or content, all his portraits vibrate with an energy that comes from mutual trust and collaborative effort between artist and subjects. As a privileged documentarian of tremendous cultural change, Sidibé’s distinguished work is both memoir and testimony to youth culture.

Check out some images below.

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