I think back on Mali with great nostalgia. I visited dozens of times with my organisation Origo. Jihadism has now made it impossible to visit the region. Djuiguibombo, a small settlement in the Dogon area, was like a second home to me. It was here that I first became acquainted with the local population’s belief in ritual statues. A night-time trip with Omar, the hunter, and his mutterings with the fetishes gave me the idea of making statues myself and giving them away.