A few days ago, we went to see a collective exhibition in Paris: “Photographies soudanaises” (Sudanese photographs). The gallery Clémentine de la Féronnière brought together, thanks to the Elnour collective founded by Claude Iverné in 2003, photographs by Rashid Mahdi but also by Richard Lokiden Wani, Gadalla Gubara, Madani Gahory, Osman Hamid Khalifa and Ahmed Omar Addow amongst others.

Max Dana appreciates a lot the work done by Rashid Mahdi (1923-2008) and she is also very impressed by Claude Iverné and his deep knowledge of Sudan and Darfur; she is the one who told us to go if we wanted to see the best collection of photos from Sudan. And we really enjoyed this afternoon at the gallery, looking at each photo, each one saying something different on Sudan, and taken at different times.

But the photos that caught our attention were the ones by Rashid Mahdi, Max was right. It is impressive to see the meticulous work he did on every photo he took, he touched up negatives and fiddled with prints to wipe away wrinkles, spots and sometimes shadows. The colors are amazing and the result is perfect: each portrait emphasize every part of the face… It’s amazing!

The show closes tomorrow, so if you are in Paris, you have only one day left to see the exhibition at the gallery Clémentine de la Féronnière, 12, rue Guénégaud, 75006 Paris.

Illustrating this post (full image below): Rashid Mahdi – Hand tipped photograph, 1972.