At first, they look like studio portraits, reminiscent of the jubilant style of Malick Sidibé. Against lime and verdant green fabrics fashioned into makeshift backdrops, the subjects face the camera. But they do not return our gaze. They are blind.
The portraits are part of a series by the award-winning photojournalist John Kalapo – who worked for a time as a digital archivist preserving the work of Malian photography legends, including Sidibé. In this series, the history of Malian studio portrait photography and documentary converge, as Kalapo evokes the devastating effects of onchocerciasis, known as “river blindness” – a tropical skin disease caused by a parasitic worm – in the Malian villages of Sagabary, Boukarybaye-Bohan, and Kita town.
