The 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography will take place in Mali from November 30, 2019 to January 31, 2020.

Titled “Streams of Consciousness,” after the eponymous 1977 record by Abdullah Ibrahim and Max Roach, the exhibition was conceived by artistic director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and a curatorial team comprising Aziza Harmel, Astrid Sokona Lepoultier, and Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh; artistic advisors Akinbode Akinbiyi and Seydou Camara; and scenographer Cheick Diallo.

The exhibition will apply the notion of the stream of consciousness as a metaphor for the flux of ideas, peoples, cultures that flow across and along with rivers like the Niger, Congo, Nile or Mississippi.

Roughly 85 artistic positions from the African continent and diaspora have been invited to participate:

Individual Artists

Ibrahim Ahmed (Egypt/United States)
Nirveda Alleck (Mauritius)
Emmanuelle Andrianjafy (Madagascar)
Roger Anis (Egypt)
Yannick Anton (Canada)
Afrane Akwasi Bediako (Ghana)
Jean-Pierre Bekolo (Cameroon)
Jodi Bieber (South Africa)
Milena Scherezade Carranza Valcárcel (Peru)
Cédrick-Isham (France)
Nidhal Chamekh (Tunisia)
Amsatou Diallo (Mali)
Moustapha Diallo (Mali)
Dickonet (Mali)
Adji Fatou Amdy Dieye (Italy/Senegal)
Fakhri El Ghezal (Tunisia)
Badr El Hammami (Morocco)
Yagazie Emezi (Nigeria)
Theo Eshetu (Ethiopia/Italy/Netherlands/United Kingdom)
Fototala King Massassy (Mali)
Abrie Fourie (South Africa)
Rahima Gambo (Nigeria)
Eric Gyamfi (Ghana)
Yasmina Hajji (France)
Halima Haruna (Nigeria)
Fanyana Hlabangane (South Africa)
Renée Holleman (South Africa)
Adama Jalloh (United Kingdom/Sierra Leone)
Maxime Jean-Baptiste (France)
Amina Ayman Kadous (Egypt)
Mansour Ciss Kanakassy (Senegal)
Mouna Karray (Tunisia)
Godelive Kabena Kasangati (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Bouchra Khalili (France/Morocco)
Nicène Kossentini (Tunisia)
Kitso Lynn Lelliott (Botswana/South Africa)
Keli Safia Maksud (Kenya/Tanzania)
Harun Morrison & Helen Walker (United Kingdom)
Santiago Mostyn (Sweden/Trinidad/Zimbabwe)
Khalil Nemmaoui (Morocco)
Yvon Ngassam (Cameroon)
Antoine Ngolke-do’o (Cameroon)
Christian Nyampeta (Netherlands/Rwanda)
Abraham Oghobase (Nigeria)
Adeola Olagunju (Nigeria)
Léonard Pongo (Belgium)
Nader Mohamed Saadallah (Egypt)
Amadou Diadié Samassékou (Mali)
Mara Sanchez Renero (Mexico)
Ketaki Sheth (India)
Buhlebezwe Siwani (South Africa)
Selasi Awusi Sosu (Ghana)
Mohamed Thara (Morocco)
Dustine Thierry (Curaçao/Netherlands)
Boubakary Touré (France/Mali)
Hamdia Traoré (Mali)
Andrew Tshabangu (South Africa)
Guy Woueté (Cameroon)

Collectives

Association des Femmes Photographes du Mali (AFPM) (Mali)
Collectif Orchestre vide (France)
Collective 220 (Algeria)
Iliso Labantu Photography Collective (South Africa)
Invisible Borders (Trans-Africa)
Kamoinge (United States/Pan-Africa)
Kolektif 2 Dimansyon (K2D) (Haiti)
MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora (Pan-Africa)
The Otholith Group (Ghana/India/United Kingdom)

Special Projects

Felicia Abban (Ghana)
Akinbode Akinbiyi (Nigeria)
Jihan El Tahri (Egypt)
Armet Francis (Jamaica)
Theaster Gates (United States)
Liz Johnson Artur (United Kingdom)
Deborah Lewis (United States)
Eustaquio Neves (Brazil)

Thematic Exhibitions

“Musow Ka Touma Sera,”
a group exhibition featuring work by women artists, curated by Fatima Bocoum (Mali)

“Dja Tigui: L’hote de Mon Ombre,”
curated by Nakhana Diakite Prats (France/Senegal)

“The Works of Tolu Odukoya 1945–2015,”
curated by Uche James Iroha (Nigeria)

“Legends of the Casbah,”
curated by Riason Naidoo (South Africa)

“À l’Est de Bamako,”
curated by Françoise Huguier (France)

“Five Photographers: A tribute to David Goldblatt,”
curated by John Fleetwood (South Africa)

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