Pattern centres on Studio Grand Fall and the work of Amadou Fall, who recorded Nouadhibou, in Mauritania, from the 1960s onward. In the studio, families from the bush, from the city and from the region, along with Spanish migrants, workers, merchants and passing officials, sat before the same lens, bringing with them the city's shifting mix of cultures and aspirations.

Each cover is unique, printed on wax fabric in west Africa; the patterns used appear inside the book, worn by the clients of the studio. It is the first book on the practice of a Mauritanian studio operator, whose negatives were carefully preserved for years by one of his sons.