The storied city of Djenné, a center of Islamic learning, study, and scholarship since the twelfth century, is the hometown of Bamako-based photographer Hamdia Traoré (b. 1992, Mali). The thirty portraits in Traore’s series Des marabouts de Djenné (Marabouts of Jenne) reflect his intimate connections to the city’s people and deep history. Learned and devout, marabouts teach in Djenné’s over 50 Qur’anic schools, offer spiritual guidance, and treat ailments through their knowledge of the Qur’an.
This brochure is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Hamdia Traore’s Des marabouts de Djenné and Muslim Portraiture in Mali." at The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art Northwestern University (February 4–June 14, 2026)
blockmuseum.northwestern.edu
