Since 2006 Dany Leriche and Jean-Michel Fickinger have made numerous journeys to Mali to meet the leaders of the different brotherhoods of donso hunters. Guardians of a so-called animist thought and of its rites, a representation of the original world that the wear of time has spared, these hunters of the invisible hold the magic, perpetuate the past and the knowledge; they are healers and diviners at once.

Long protected from outside eyes, they agreed to pose in soothsayer dress. The sober staging, the figures standing out against a white ground, the elegance of the postures, the faces with their expressive looks, help to capture the soul of these initiates while avoiding the pitfall of the picturesque and the exotic. A relationship of sharing is established with the sitter, allowing the transcription of faces overflowing with gravity and dignity to go well beyond a simple ethnographic inventory. Over time links were forged, and that trust allowed the pair to meet all the leaders and their musicians, among them Yoro Sidibé, Sibiri Samaké and the celebrated Balla Guimba.