Touba, Sénégal
July 02, 2010
This is potentially one of my favorite photos i’ve ever taken, not necessarily because of the composition or the colors, just in that it captures and conveys something that would otherwise be almost impossible to communicate any other way… Early last summer when i was living in Sénégal i took a weekend trip with my friend Khadim & Babs to the holy city of Touba, home to the largest mosque in the country, centerpiece of Senegal’s particular brand of Islam called Mouridisme and the site of frequent pilgrimages. We were there for a small pilgrimage mourning the recent passing of a maribou (spiritual leader) as well as the official festival honoring Serigne Fallou Mbacke, a famous/beloved maribou for whom i’d been affectionately given my nom Sénégalais, “Fallou Mbacke Johnson.”
The city of Touba is incredibly hot and the majority of the days were spent avoiding the sun. Around the magic hour before sunset, however, things cool down and we went up on the roof to hang out. In this picture are my friend Khadim’s two nephews as well as his cousin, Babacar. We ran around on the roof (taking care not to impale ourselves on the exposed rebar that is a constant fixture on roofs in Senegal, there for the potential of adding another story to the existing house. I like to think that houses in Africa are built with hope- if you only have enough money for one story, just build it with the possibility of adding on another :) in turns riding, jumping, somersaulting, yelling hello to the neighbors down below and otherwise just enjoying the cool night breeze starting to creep eastward from the coast. I originally imagined Touba to be a fairly joyless, hot & barren place with its piety and strict Islam-interpreted laws, but the people living there made the ambiance the exact opposite.
It wasn’t hard to convince these two to jump for me while i shot photos. Babacar commandeered their bike and joined in on the action as well.
Some more shots from Senegal here:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Senegal/914064
