Seydou Keïta's 'Bamako Portraits'

Treasured Malian photographer Seydou Keïta amassed an incredible archive of more than 10.000 negatives, which were discovered in 1992. In a new expo titled 'Bamako Portraits' at Amsterdam photo museum FOAM, visitors get to marvel at a selection of Seydou Keïta portraits captured in the 50s and 60s in Mali's capital of Bamako.

*Untitled, 1952-1955 © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC/ photo courtesy of CAAC - The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva*

As pieces of both great socio-historical and artistic value, the portraits show the people of Mali in their preferred clothing, documenting an era of change as Bamako transitioned from French colony to the capital of an independent Mali.