Volta Colour

Volta Colour explores the shift from black and white to colour photography through the work of one of West Africa’s most prolific photographers. 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, colour 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 colour 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.