Untitled (I Pose with my Cap) [Sans titre (Je pose avec ma casquette)]

Malick Sidibé opened his photography studio in Bamako, Mali, in 1962, soon after the country's liberation from France in 1960. Sidibé's pictures capture cosmopolitan youth at this most incredible moment of freedom. Like any studio portraitist, his goal was to make images that would flatter the sitters. Sidibé, however, realized that the city's increasingly liberated young population wanted to be depicted imitating and embracing the style of youth worldwide. Consumer habits informed by international youth culture—especially in the area of clothing—shaped the appearance and the outlook of Bamako's teenage population, as when this confident-looking man demonstrates his flair with a carefully cocked cap.