Mama Casset (1908-1992) fue un fotógrafo pionero en Senegal. Tuvo su primer contacto con la fotografía en Dakar como asistente del fotógrafo francés Oscar Lataque, amigo de su familia, aprendizaje que le serviría para ser empleado tiempo despuès por el fotógrafo Tennequin, director del departamento de fotografía de la A.F.O. (África Occidental Francesa, una federación de las colonias francesas en África). Más tarde prestaría sus servicios para el ejército, retratando para la aviación francesa los territorios coloniales con fines cartográficos. Al término de la Segunda Guerra Mundial abandona el ejército y deja de trabajar para otros al abrir en la Medina de Dakar su African Photo Studio, un popular Estudio fotográfico donde habría de trabajar durante unas cuatro décadas retratando la sociedad de su país. Cerró el comercio en los años 80 cuando tuvo que abandonar su oficio al ir perdiendo la vista, no el único infortunio para él por aquella época pues el Estudio sufrió un incendio y gran parte de sus archivos se perdieron, debido a lo cual el poco material que se conserva pertenece sobre todo a su trabajo entre las décadas de los 50s a los 70s. Sus retratos se habían dado a conocer fuera de su ámbito local en 1992 gracias a una exhibición en el Mes de La Foto de Dakar, pero Mama Casset fallecería poco después.
Mama Casset (1908-1992) was a pioneer photographer of Senegal. He had his first contact with photography as an assistant in Dakar to French photographer Oscar Lataque, a friend of his family. Later he worked for photographer Tennequin, director of the photography department of the AFO (then a federation of French colonies in Africa) and after that he worked for the French Army in the aviation, portraying colonial territories for mapping purposes but at the end of World War II he left the army and stop working for others to open his African Photo Studio in the Medina of Dakar, a popular portrait studio where he would photograph for about four decades capturing the society of his country until the 80s when he had to stop working because he was loosing his sight. Not his only misfortune in that time for his studio caught on fire and most of the archives were ruined. The material that remains today belongs mostly to the decades of the 50s to the 70s. His work became known to a wider public in 1992 due to an exhibition in the Dakar Photo Festival, but Mama Casset died shortly afterwards.
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Mama Casset (1908-1992) was a pioneer photographer of Senegal. He had his first contact with photography as an assistant in Dakar to French photographer Oscar Lataque, a friend of his family. Later he worked for photographer Tennequin, director of the photography department of the AFO (then a federation of French colonies in Africa) and after that he worked for the French Army in the aviation, portraying colonial territories for mapping purposes but at the end of World War II he left the army and stop working for others to open his African Photo Studio in the Medina of Dakar, a popular portrait studio where he would photograph for about four decades capturing the society of his country until the 80s when he had to stop working because he was loosing his sight. Not his only misfortune in that time for his studio caught on fire and most of the archives were ruined. The material that remains today belongs mostly to the decades of the 50s to the 70s. His work became known to a wider public in 1992 due to an exhibition in the Dakar Photo Festival, but Mama Casset died shortly afterwards.
EnlacesLinks
African Photo
Revue Noire
Multimedia El Mundo
EscuchaListen
▶Cat Power·'Faces'
