Annotated Bibliography

Observation
In this photo I see a young African girl. She is standing, with her hand on her hip, against a solid colored background. She is standing on a black and white checkered tile floor. She has a sullen expression on her face. She is topless and wearing a white, a-line skirt. She is also wearing plain, white flip flops. She is wearing a fair amount of jewelry including multiple earrings on both ears.

Inference
Seydou Keita was a photographer who captured African culture in the most pleasurable way in society. His photos often showed African people sitting or standing calmly, with great dignity. In this photograph the young girl stands against a relatively plain background (in comparison to some of Keita's other photos that show a large variety of patterns on the sitters' clothes and in the background). According to the required reading, "To have your photo taken was an important event. The person had to be made to look his or her best. Often they became serious, and I think they were also intimidated by the camera. It was a new sensation for them." (page 14) Keita's subjects often came to his studio with high spirits and seemed to clam up as soon as they got in front of the camera.  It is because of this that I believe this young girl's straight-faced expression was not something that was intentional. Given her young age, I would not be surprised if she was incredibly intimidated by having a camera in her face. These photos were incredibly important to the African people. They gave them a sense of pride in themselves. That is an immense amount of pressure that I believe could cause any one of them to clam up when they got the opportunity to go to Keita's studio for a portrait. It is also because of this that the sitters chose to dress themselves in traditional European clothing, which explains the a-line skirt the girl is wearing. Also, the amount of jewelry the young girl is wearing was typical of Keita's photographs. The article states, "A young woman portrayed by Keita wears a ring, a gold choker, and a series of gold earrings along the edge of her ear, as well as gold buttons and other decorations in her hair. Not only do these adornments accentuate her beauty, but they also indicate that she comes from a family of some affluence." (page 35) This explains in full detail why the young girl has so much jewelry. In keeping with the theme of the African sitters portraying themselves in the best possible light, the jewelry this young girl is wearing is meant to show that she is in a financial state that would make it possible for her to own all of these accessories. Finally, the young girls short hair can also be explained through the use of the article. On page 35 of the article is states that, "In some of Keita's photographs of children, heads are shaved in various patterns to indicate family or tribe,". Although it is not incredibly clear whether or not the young girls hair is shaved into a pattern, her short hair suggests to me that along the side of her head there could be some sort of pattern to illustrate this tradition in African photography.