HOMECOMING 

Homecoming is an intimate exploration of identity, heritage, and memory through photography. In this series, Malick Welli embarks on a journey back to his roots, a quest where the image becomes the language of remembrance and familial grounding. He captures the faces and places that have shaped his story, creating a powerful and emotionally charged visual narrative.

Each photograph acts as a bridge between the past and the present, revealing a timeless beauty and human depth that transcend the simple act of representation. By exploring his own heritage, Welli invites the viewer to reflect on their own roots and the importance of transmission. Through these portraits, he illuminates the essence of both collective and individual memory, questioning what connects us to our origins and our identity.

However, Homecoming is not merely a tribute to the past. The series offers a critical reflection on the role of studio photography in contemporary Africa, interrogating its role as a vehicle for storytelling and representation. By commenting on both studio portraits and everyday life scenes, Welli explores their respective abilities to capture intimacy, history, and culture. The studio portrait, formal and posed, contrasts with the everyday scenes that are more spontaneous and imbued with immediacy. These life scenes, which capture moments of daily existence, converse with the portraits, revealing a tension between the intimate and the universal, the personal memory and the collective reality. By integrating both visual forms, Welli creates a space where tradition meets modernity, and the intimate intertwines with the universal, offering a complete vision of cultural and human heritage.