Archives of beauty and pain: A century of African women in photos

The African Lookbook delves into the history of African photography – and the women who were at the centre of the frame.

The mother and daughter tilt their heads, one towards the other. Their hair is intricately braided, woven with beads, and covered with a carefully knotted wrap. The young girl sits on her mother’s lap; the mother’s hand, with its visible wedding band, is placed firmly upon her daughter’s, and perfectly to call attention to the girl’s wide cuff bracelet. The sitters for this photo, circa the 1950s, by Malian photographer Barthelely Koné, wear empire-waist dresses cut of densely patterned African cloth, their fashion a little African, a little European. The mother’s face is serene, open. Her slightly lowered eyes meet the viewer’s, the daughter’s even more directly. Koné’s portrait is a “story of inheritance”, Catherine E McKinley writes in The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women, her recently published collection featuring 166 photos, including this one, taken between 1870 and 1970.