Daga Family Wedding Celebrated by the Las Vegas Club (Mariage Daga arrosé par Las Vegas)

Malick Sidibé opened his photography studio in Bamako, Mali, in 1962, just two years after the country’s liberation from France, and began his career photographing the growing construction industry, making studio portraits, and documenting events at the newly established social clubs. Sidibé’s work from this period captures Bamako’s cosmopolitan youth at a euphoric moment, when the embrace of foreign music, dress, and newfound consumer habits allowed them, in his words, “to experience a different kind of freedom.” As seen in this composite sheet for a wedding celebration, social clubs such as the Las Vegas Club (which was active from 1963 to 1969) offered the youth of Bamako a place to engage in romantic and social interactions, dance to Western music, and be seen in the latest street fashions.