Since 2006, Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger have been making numerous trips to Mali to meet the leaders of the various brotherhoods of hunters-donso. Guardians of a way of thinking and rites called “animist”, a representation of the original world that the wear and tear of time has spared, these “hunters of the invisible” controlling the magic, perpetuate the past and knowledge. They are both healers and soothsayers. Long protected from outside eyes, they agreed to pose in soothsayer’s outfit in front of Jean-Michel Fickinger’s lens. The staging, the figures that stand out against a white background, the elegance of the postures, the faces with expressive gazes, contribute to capturing the soul of these initiates while avoiding the pitfalls of the picturesque and the exotic. A ” sharing relationship” is established between the photographer and his model, allowing the transcription of “these faces that overflow with gravity and dignity” to go well beyond a simple ethnographic inventory. Over time, links were forged, a relationship of trust allowed them to meet all the leaders and their musicians including Yoro Sidibé, Sibiri Samaké and the very famous Balla Guimba. These unpublished portraits of Donso initiates, powerful characters “who walk on time” bear witness to an ancient cultural memory, which is today weakened by reflexive reference to the Western “model”, but are also surrounded by a renewed interest, particularly among young people . This book hopes to contribute to this. After KORÈDUGAW, the last jesters of Mali and SOGOBÒ, the people of puppets, DONSO, the hunters of the invisible is the third work devoted to initiated societies in Mali by Dany Leriche and Jean-Michel Fickinger.
Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger : DONSO, les chasseurs de l’invisible
Trans Photographic Press
Preface by Jean-Louis-Sagot-Duvauroux
Hardcover book
format 20 x 30 cm
182 pages, 120 photographs
48 pages of text
https://www.transphotographic.com/
