Casually leaning on a large transistor radio, a woman with fine bone structure and glowing skin stares into the near distance. Although the photo is in black and white, it’s easy to conjure the colours of the polka dots on her puffed-sleeve dress and the swirling pattern of the backdrop behind her.
What is impressive about the image is that although it was taken sometime between 1948 and 1954, it is contemporary in many ways, reminiscent of the style many modern photographers use when capturing subjects for portraits.
It is also one of more than 20 monochromatic prints of photos taken by late Malian photographer Seydou Keïta that are currently on show in Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai.
Keïta is widely recognised as one of the most important African photographers of his generation. His work has been exhibited all over the world and his prints sell for thousands of dollars – ironic, considering that when he took the images, he was so concerned for his financial future that he wouldn’t even print them. Keïta died in 2001 but not before his work was discovered by Jean Pigozzi, one of the world’s biggest collectors of African art, who now manages the entire collection.
Pigozzi – who says Keïta “should be considered one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century; on the same level as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and August Sander” – was at the recent launch of the exhibition in Dubai. The show came about after he saw a small slide of Keïta’s work tucked away in a collection. Tracking the artist down in Mali, where he discovered the photographer had some 10,000 slides in his archive.
This series of images captures the distinct personalities of Malian people in the capital city Bamako in Mali between 1948 and 1960 – the final decade of French rule.
Keïta, then a young carpenter-turned-photographer armed with the newly available Eastman Kodak Brownie camera, was commissioned to capture images of everyday people who were living through an era of change in a rapidly modernising Africa.
Not a rich man, nor confident in his abilities, Keïta charged his subjects a minimal fee for their portraits, took only one frame, and never converted them from slide format to film.
Looking at the quality of each snap and the exquisite composition and clarity once printed, it is hardly believable in today’s digital age that Keïta only took one shot. The subjects are dressed mostly in Western clothes, reflective of the society they lived in, and often stare directly into the camera. Keïta’s uncanny talent for capturing the spirit of the sitter is discernible in very image, and browsing the exhibition offers a fascinating insight into both each individual and the artist.
Many of the portraits are staged, featuring the same backdrop or clothes that Keïta provided. They depict a rich aesthetic vocabulary, seeking to capture casual moments in daily life: four women drinking tea; a man holding a rifle; a bespectacled man in a dapper suit holding a flower; a woman reclines on a check-print sofa – a contemporary commentary on the Odalisque women of the Turkish empire.
Another interesting image focuses on a little boy, dressed in shorts, braces, striped T-shirt and a beret, standing next to a bicycle. It is fascinating because the boy’s clothes could place him anywhere in France during that period; it is only his dusty knees and the soil he stands on that reveal him to be in his homeland.
Seydou Keïta runs until September 1 at Leila Heller Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai. Visit www.leilahellergallery.com
aseaman@thenational.ae
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
MATCH DETAILS
Juventus 2 (Bonucci 36, Ronaldo 90 6)
Genoa 1 (Kouame 40)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Playing records of the top 10 in 2017
How many games the top 10 have undertaken in the 2017 ATP season
1. Rafael Nadal 58 (49-9)
2. Andy Murray 35 (25-10)
3. Roger Federer 38 (35-3)
4. Stan Wawrinka 37 (26-11)
5. Novak Djokovic 40 (32-8)
6. Alexander Zverev 60 (46-14)
7. Marin Cilic 43 (29-14)
8. Dominic Thiem 60 (41-19)
9. Grigor Dimitrov 48 (34-14)
10. Kei Nishikori 43 (30-13)
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
