gambia/ portraits
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Photographs of people who lived in the Gambia, West Africa in 1995/6 by lorenz von seidlein
Š 2010 lorenz von seidlein/rforce publishing paris, www.rforce.fr
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01. introduction 02. places & villages 03. the portraits (colour) 04. the portraits (black & white) 05. the working girls
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In The Gambia in 1995-1966 we were assigned to follow a group of children who had participated in a drug trial half a year earlier. The children were invariably well. Out of boredom I started to take pictures of the children. That caused some friction with the parents, not because their privacy was invaded but because taking pictures of one child was insufficient. What about the siblings? And if you take pictures of the children why aren’t adults worth a picture? Shouldn’t the eldest be photographed at least as extensively as the children? We agreed and shot pictures of anyone who cared to come. We shot the pictures on negative film and had prints made in the local photo-lab. Lamin Manneh insisted that we give a copy of each picture to our subjects. Our popularity increased. The pictures started to evolve. The initial, heterogeneous backgrounds distracted from the subject. We bought monochrome material which we dyed in some cases. We bought a wooden frame from which to hang the material. The frame could be dismantled and we drove with this set-up from compound to compound and took pictures of anyone willing to have his or her picture taken. We decided on the background the rest was left to the person who wanted the picture taken. Some people wanted to be photographed with their children. An old woman insisted to have her picture taken with her goat. A woman with a leg deformity insisted to be photographed sitting on the floor. One young woman refused to have her picture taken without hair extensions. We paid for the extensions, came back on the following day, and took her picture in front of a red background. Then the sisters wanted their picture taken. Some of the men wanted to be photographed with their wives surrounding them. Others wanted to have their picture taken in their uniform. The Koran scholar had his picture taken with the Koran in his hands.
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02/ places & villages
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03/ the portraits (colour)
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04/ the portraits (b&w)
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05/ the working girls
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Lorenz was born in Germany and studied in Dublin, Miami and Los Angeles. Between 1995 and 2000 Lorenz worked on medical research in The Gambia. Since 2006 he works in Tanga, Tanzania. The pictures were taken in The Gambia in 1995/96. lseidlein@gmail.com
Š 2010 lorenz von seidlein/rforce publishing paris 37 bis, rue de montreuil, 75011, Paris, France
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