The project Le Studio Photo de la Rue focuses on merging tradition and modernity. It is deeply rooted in identity and looks at how new generations can honor the heritage of their elders.

These images hearken back to ‘50s and ‘60s Bamako; people would leave their villages to travel to the big city. Families and communities would often take up contributions to support them, and once there many never returned. Such people would often use portraits of them taken at street studios to send greetings back to their communities and show how well they were doing.

That same idea guides Fatoumata in her work; she wants everyone to appreciate the model’s prosperity and wellbeing. Following in the footsteps of Malian masters such as Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé, Fatoumata works to present her subjects “at their best.” She does so by mastering subtle details: she offers subjects the chance to wear traditional chieftain’s garb, jewelry and attributes; she uses high quality West African traditional fabrics for backgrounds or a place to pose on; and uses various contemporary props or personal belongings to complete the setting.