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Burkina Faso photographer Sory Sanl (born 1943) started his career in 1960, the year his country (then named Rpublique de Haute-Volta) gained independence from France.Sanl opened his Volta Photo portrait studio in 1965 and, working with his Rolleiflex twin-lens, medium-format camera, Volta Photo was soon recognized as the finest studio in the city. Voltaic photography's unsung golden age is fully embodied by Sory Sanl: his black-and-white images magnify this era and display a unique cultural energy and social impact.This is the first monograph on Sanl's work, which examines the natural fusion between tradition and modernity. Sanl documented the fast evolution of Bobo-Dioulasso, then Burkina Faso's cultural and economic capital, portraying the city's inhabitants with wit, energy and passion.