Senegal’s Pink Salt Lake
- Words
- Sarah Press
Based in Paris, photographer Ilyes Griyeb was born in Meknes, Morocco, where he found his passion for photography. For his series photographed at Retba Lake, Griyeb was commissioned by a client to shoot a story about the salt production in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.
Unfortunately the job was cancelled, so he had the opportunity to document the people working at the lake. Being from the same background, of muslim and african origin, the artist was accepted as one of their own and not as a tourist. Also named “Lac Rose”, the water’s rose hue is due to the presence of dunaliella salina algae, an aquatic plant which produces a red pigment to help it absorb. The Retba Lake is a free place, so anybody is able to drain salt from it. The workers come from different villages next to the lake, but also from border countries like Mali, Guinea or even Ivory Coast.
