14th Bamako Encounters Open Call

This call is open to artists from the African world and its diaspora, photographers and videographers, amateurs or professionals, alone or in groups, with no limit of age or nationality.

Overview

The 14th Bamako Encounters – The African Biennal of Photography will be held from November 16, 2024 to January 15, 2025 in Bamako, Mali. This 14th edition celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Biennal, giving a special echo to contemporary photographic expression.

The chosen thematic will focus on KUMA, the Speech, the Silence and the Noise. Photography has the power to make an image speak, to convey emotions, ideas and messages. A picture can tell a thousand stories. Transmit emotions, ideas and messages through the sheer force of the moment captured, by the framing, the light or the staging. Photographers have the power to make an image speak thanks to this genius. Photography speaks when bringing the past to life. For all eternity, it remains the memory of a moment, an era, a gesture, and the witness of a present that is conjugated with the future. Today, new voices are emerging from the Whole-World. Change of speech or change of climate. Nature urges us to make its voice heard.

The 14th Bamako Encounters invites artists to explore new forms, experiment with dialogues in between word and image, and give visual existence to moments of speech, eloquence, anger, hope, recollection, silence, cacophony and noise.

Practical Info

Applicants must submit the completed application form, a short biography and a CV, a portrait of the artist and a high-resolution passport photo, a scanned copy of the passport, 5 images of recent works with their technical specifications, or a zip file containing the video files. Plus, they must include a document describing installation options for online photography/video projects (including technical requirements, e.g. short-throw projector, mac mini, iPad touch, speakers, etc.). Artists may submit multiple series and apply in both fields (photography/video). Among the requested materials, a portfolio, and a note of intent presenting the series and/or video works, in French or English, in PDF or word format, 5 pages maximum, containing a clear and concise description of the proposal.

The selection committee, chaired by the artistic director, is made up of the Biennal’s associate curators and artistic advisors. Selected artists are invited to attend the Biennal’s professional days, with airfare, visa and accommodation expenses covered.

About Bamako Encounters – The African Biennal of Photography

Created in 1994, the Rencontres de Bamako, African Biennial of Photography, the first and foremost international event dedicated to African photography and video on the continent, has become, over its 30 years of existence and 14 editions, an essential event in the global circuit of contemporary art. As a platform for discovery, exchange, and visibility, the Biennial is a major and essential venue for revealing African photographers and the diaspora, a time for exchange and sharing with the Malian public and professionals from around the world.