In Imaging Culture: Photography in Mali, West Africa, Candace Keller takes us through the history of photography and image production in Mali, and how influenced it is by the European (colonial) gaze on the Other. First, Keller ties this historiography to the contemporary political economy of photography and cultural production. The second part of the analysis that Keller sets forth concerns how these photographic practices and image production shape culture.
Right at the beginning, Keller makes the reader aware of the significance of the project and its relevance to the practice of decolonization by tying the two threads in a symbiotic way–the culture of image production on one hand and, on the other, culture as imagined through the practice of photography.
The author has organized the analysis in two parts. The first part looks at the development of photography within the framework of European modernity and colonial conditions of the time in Mali. The first part is especially helpful in situating Mali's contemporary politics of culture and photography in the context of its historical roots of urbanization, French colonization in the late nineteenth century, and its larger movement to capitalism and the market economy. The second part builds upon the first and locates the socio-political significance of “image” in Mali and the locality of aesthetics and photography in its communities. This part is also the analytical heart of the book. It expands on current scholarship around questions of cultural identity, art praxis, and post-colonial communities’ understanding of the self and their cultural values.
Keller uses historiography and establishes its relationship to contemporary contexts of photography in Mali. It is an excellent way of looking at the camera to decolonize the methodology of knowinga culture. For instance, in chapter 3, the author analyzes the theme of agency and social memory in the context of the photographic practices of the artists in Mali and the nature of patronage they receive from their clientele. Similarly, the second part also covers a range of film practices employed by photographers and the kind of socio-cultural relations depicted in films, while also looking at the visual strategies employed to communicate them.
Consequently, Imaging Culture is excellent for getting a broader and critical re-evaluation of the conceptual categories of culture and representation and their significance in understanding the present-day culture of visuality and imagery in Mali. Keller’s work necessitates a serious conceptual and methodological articulation of politics of representation anchored in the relationship of culture and visuality. Hence, the question one needs to ask is about the nature of knowledge production itself and its role in orienting culture that is fundamentally mediated through visual transaction in interpreting cultures.
The analysis draws upon a dense methodological process where the author practices a range of ethnographic and community-engaged methods. From participant observation and long interviews to working with the photographers and production crews in their studios, the methods clearly show Keller’s immersion with her interlocutors. Importantly, during the discussion around the methods and practices, the author acknowledges the gender bias of the scholarship, with all of the participating artists and interviewees being men. Finally, Imaging Culture is an excellent intervention in the identification of the visual as a medium for transforming the subjects of analysis, historically analyzed from the outside. The work makes a timely shift toward an alternative methodology of knowing and understanding the role of image production as a critical actor in cultural analyses.
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[Review length: 569 words • Review posted on May 21, 2023]