I’ve always had a keen interest in photography, and I first wanted to be a photo journalist. I did not become one but I still like photography and I’ve samazed the French city of Trouville-Sur-Mer, a seaside resort and port on the English Channel (Calvados). New photos will be published soon.
A few months ago I saw the exhibition dedicated to French artist, photographer and writer, Claude Cahun and I will write about this amazing artist later. More recently, I’ve seen the beautiful photographs of Rashid Mahdi and the captivating ones of French photograph Claude Iverné.
My Sama-friends at the Sama Gazette already posted about this exhibition: ‘A few days ago, we went to see a collective exhibition in Paris: “Photographies soudanaises” (Sudanese photographs). The gallery Clémentine de la Féronnière brought together, thanks to the Elnour collective founded by Claude Iverné in 2003, photographs by Rashid Mahdi but also by Richard Lokiden Wani, Gadalla Gubara, Madani Gahory, Osman Hamid Khalifa and Ahmed Omar Addow amongst others.’
I was curious to see all those photographs with my own eyes. I already knew the work of Rashid Mahdi and it always catches the attention, as the Sama Gazette writes: ‘It is impressive to see the meticulous work he did on every photo he took, he touched up negatives and fiddled with prints to wipe away wrinkles, spots and sometimes shadows. The colors are amazing and the result is perfect: each portrait emphasize every part of the face… It’s amazing!‘
I was also impressed by the work of the other photographers, and if I came to see Mahdi’s work, I also wanted to see Claude Iverné’s; this (collective) show was brought together by the Elnour collective founded by Iverné. I have read about his trips in Sudan, across the land of the many tribes. His photographs depict desolation and traditions, you can feel through them Iverné perfectly knows the country (he also speaks the language fluently) and its tormented history.
Follow this link to read more about this fantastic photographer.
Below a picture I took of two Rashid Mahdi’s photographs.