Volta Colour - Sanlé Sory

Sanlé Sory
was born in 1943 and opened his photo studio in BoboDioulasso in 1960. Over many years, he took more than
a million pictures showing how his community changed.
By the late 1980s, color had become the heart of his
work. In Sory’s studio, his clients chose their clothes,
hairstyles and poses with care. These photographs are
about more than fashion. They show pride, confidence
and hope. They capture people building new lives in a
changing country. 

Volta Colour shows that the move to color was
about much more than photography. From the years
of President Thomas Sankara in the 1980s, through the
1990s and into the 2000s, Sory’s photographs show
people imagining the future on their own terms. They
tell the story of West Africa through the eyes of West
Africans.