Portrait and Place: Photography in Senegal, 1840-1960

A richly illustrated history of photography in one of the epicenters of African modernity

When the daguerreotype first arrived in sub-Saharan Africa in the early nineteenth century, local kingdoms still held power in Senegal and the French presence was limited to trading outposts along the coast. The pioneers of photography in Senegal worked within, across, and beyond the borders of colonial empire, expanding the medium’s possibilities and contributing to a global visual language. Portrait a...