Picture of the past: photographer in Mali shows the historical value of postcards

Cisse may be one of Mali's most popular photographers, his landscapes and life scenes selling by the thousands on postcards that were once ubiquitous across the African country. Photo: AFP

He may be one of Mali's most popular photographers, endowed with an eye for spectacular landscapes or a slice of life, whose images were then printed on postcards that sold by the thousand.

To the public who snapped up his pictures, Diango Cisse's name remains almost unknown, although professional photographers and historians of the Sahel nation's past bow deeply to his skills.