Malick Sidibé was born in 1935 into a Peul family in a small village of Mali. He graduated from school in I952. After being noticed for his talent as a draftsman, he was admitted to the School of Sudanese Craftsmen in Bamako from which he graduated in I955.

Sidibe decorated the "Photo Service" store of Gerard Guillat, also known as "Gégé la Pellicule", who offered him a job as his apprentice. He got started in photography in 1956.

Malick Sidibe opened "Studio Malick" in I958, right in the centre of Bamako where he still prints his portraits today and repairs cameras.

In the 1950's, the coming of independence, gave birth to a new generation of photographers who were totally involved in the cultural and social life that they recorded. Malick Sidibé, was a pivotal character in all this. Highly appreciated by young people, he was present at all the soirees where the young, organized in clubs, learned the new dances coming from Europe and Cuba, and dressed elegantly in Western clothes.

In I957, Malick was the only reporter in Bamako who covered all the events, festivities and surprise-parties. On Saturdays these parties lasted until dawn and continued on Sunday on the banks the river Niger. This on-the-spot coverage provided simple pictures, full of truth and complicity.

Malick Sidibé quits this activity in 1978, but continued with his studio photography and repairing cameras. When his work gained an international reputation, new horizons opened up for him. People flocked to his studio, magazines commissioned photo-reports, and he is invited almost everywhere in the world for exhibitions and conferences.

In 2003 he was awarded the Hasselblad Award and in 2007, the Venice Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. It was the first time the Golden Lion was presented to a photographer.