We knew as soon as we saw Riccardo Lennart Niels Mayer’s collection, we had to delve deeper to find out more about his imagery and the message he hopes to convey by photographing the Malian community. Riccardo doesn’t shy away from capturing all sides of life, from joyous moments to harsh realities.
Carry on reading to learn how Riccardo captures everyday life in West Africa, how volunteering is important to him, and where he will be heading next on his travels.
CG: You specialise in documentary and lifestyle photography; how did you get into this style of photography?
RLNM: I was born and grew up in Milan, Italy. At school, my friends wore the most fashionable clothes, ate expensive sandwiches for lunch and always got the latest iPod for Christmas. I had always tried to fit in, despite my parents having only little money to spend on me. Rather, they used it on travelling the world with me. The first time they “dragged” me to Mali, West Africa in 2007, a tourist only 15 years of age, I experienced what you could definitely call an existential crisis. Let me explain. At home, I had basically only seen African children depicted as poor, malnourished or starving in newspapers or on TV. “Surely, living a life full of struggles must make them very sad,” I told myself. The exact opposite was the reality I observed after arrival. Up to then I had never seen people more joyful, happy and smiling than in Mali. I was so overwhelmed and shocked by this epiphany that I immediately felt the urge to photograph their beautiful faces and expressions – becoming a witness of how people, families, children and a whole community actually seemed to be living happier lives than I had ever seen anyone living back home, despite not having almost anything (Mali is one of the poorest countries on Earth).
But where to go from here? One year later, in 2008, I flew back to Mali once again, this time for different reasons. I volunteered for three weeks for an Italian NGO in a public school in Bamako, teaching French, English and maths to the children during the summer break – coming back to Italy having learnt a lot more from them than I could have ever taught. Since then, I’ve spent almost every summer in Mali, often several months a year, volunteering for the children in school and sharing the most wonderful moments of my life with an entire community – always carrying my camera with me, ready to capture another one of those joyful moments.
CG: Can you tell us why you specifically capture images of African communities?
RLNM: It’s the overwhelming difference between what I’ve been told about Africa and the reality I’ve witnessed in loco that pushes me to capture the everyday lives of my friends in Mali. It’s photographing the happiness of the children when their birthday gifts are exercise books and pens for school, it’s witnessing the joy in the eyes of a girl when she dances in the first rain after long periods of drought, it’s capturing Malian boys playing soccer barefoot in dusty clouds with an old, torn ball. It’s the purity and the authenticity in those smiles. Taking a picture is equally as important to me as keeping those moments my memory: I’ve witnessed that emotion, I was there – and it was true!
CG: What kind of story do you want to tell with your photos?
RLNM: I’ve always tried to highlight the life of the Malian community in all its facets, positive and negative. My photographs try to depict scenes of everyday life, especially of Malian children, every picture showing a reality I’ve come across being in close contact with the Malian people for many years. That’s why you’ll find plenty of candid photographs of children’s emotions in my portfolio. Africa isn’t all about poverty, malnourishment and illness. I’m always shocked by how little my friends in Europe know about Africa and its people. Many of them can’t even locate Mali on a map.
Of course, it’s also important to photograph the “ugly”: child labour, poverty, environmental pollution, early marriage, and female circumcision. Be it a good or a bad one, every single photograph I publish tells a different tale — a story of joy, friendship, and hope, but some also cover sadness, sorrow, and despair.
CG: What’s your all-time favourite shot from your collection and why?
RLNM: This picture of Lah (the daughter of the director of a school the Italian NGO opened in Bamako, Mali, in 2005) is one I often come back to look at for inspiration. I love the candid expression she gifts us the moment her friends had pumped enough water from the well for it to exit the tap. In Mali, few families have the privilege of having fresh water from a tap. Every time I see this photograph it reminds me how grateful I should be the next time I open my tap at home.
Girl Drinking from Tap
CG: Which communities will you be documenting next and where will this take you?
RLNM: Sadly, Mali has experienced massive political issues for the past few years, which makes it hard for me to travel back to Bamako. Whilst I still return on rare occasions, for safety reasons I usually limit my activities outdoors to the minimum, almost exclusively photographing the ongoing projects for the above-mentioned Italian NGO. This summer, I’ll be traveling to Mali’s neighbouring country Senegal, where a very different people and society awaits me. Whilst I’m still going to miss all the amazing years passed in Bamako, I’m sure that Senegal will surprise me with its beautiful and welcoming people, too. Combining volunteering with photography, I can’t wait to be back to Africa!
We hope you enjoyed Riccardo’s interview and feel inspired to capture communities around you. You can check out the rest of his Alamy collection here and come back next month to see who will be in the spotlight.
