In his photographic series “African Spirits,” an exhibit held from October 2008 to April 2009 at Jean Marc Patras / Galerie, Paris, Cameroonian photographer Samuel Fosso presented what appeared to be portraits of black leaders, politicians, and cultural icons, ranging from former South African president Nelson Mandela to American boxer Muhammad Ali to American activist and academic Angela Davis. In fact, these 14 images were “autoportraits,” as Fosso transformed himself into other people and characters drawn from popular culture and politics. Although his work incited comparisons to traditional African studio photographers (such as Seydou Keïta of Mali) and Western photographers who utilized self-portraiture (such as American Cindy Sherman), Fosso operated in relative isolation in his studio in Bangui, C.A.R. Yet by 2009 Fosso’s work was regularly featured in solo and group exhibitions around the world, including the 2008 edition of the “Festival des rencontres de la photographique d’Arles” in France.
Fosso lived in Nigeria as a child, but in the early 1970s the Biafran war forced his family to flee to Bangui, where he ultimately settled after the war destroyed their Nigerian home. He discovered photography in his early teens while working as a shoemaker, and by 1975, after a brief apprenticeship with a local photographer, he had opened his own studio. He lived and worked at the studio, creating portraits of the local residents by using studio lights fashioned from pots and backgrounds made from traditional African fabrics or hand painted by friends. At the day’s end he would often step in front of the camera to finish a roll of film. While Fosso used these images to communicate his well-being to his grandmother in Nigeria, the staged self-portraits also became agents of transformation and expression for the young artist, who was acutely aware of shifting cultural and political climates. In many of his early images, Fosso borrowed elements from popular culture that he admired, even having local tailors replicate outfits worn by celebrities. In 1993 these images were discovered by French photographer Bernard Deschamps, who was looking for photographers to be included in the first edition of “Rencontres de la photographie africaine” in Bamako, Mali. That 1994 exhibition launched Fosso’s career as an artist, and he later went on to win the Afrique en Création award in 1995 and the prestigious Prince Claus Award in 2001.
Fosso evolved and expanded the scope of his autoportraits, using these constructed
images to critically narrate and reference cultural and political events. In the Tati series, commissioned by the Parisian department store Tati in 1997, Fosso depicted himself as characters ranging from an African chief draped in gold jewelry and leopard skins to a glamorous African American woman. Regardless of his international success, Fosso continued to live and operate his photography studio in Bangui, where the local community remained largely unaware of his achievements as an artist.
1962 Born in Kunmba
(Cameroon)
1965 - 1972 Lived
in Nigeria
1975 Moved to Bangui, Central African Republic, where he opened his
first photography studio
1994 Thanks to Bernard Descamps’ research, Samuel Fosso’s
self-portraits are shown for the first time at the "1st Bamako Rencontres de la
Photographie Africaine" launched by Françoise Huguier, who discovered both
Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keita.
Lives and works in Bangui, Central African Republic
Awards
1995 Afrique en Création, Paris
2000 Dak’Art Firts prize for photography. Dakar, Senegal
2001 Prince Claus Fund Award, Den Hague, The Netherlands
Selected Exhibitions
2009
Samuel Fosso, African Spirits, jean marc patras /
galerie, Paris
Samuel Fosso,
Monographie. Bamako, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain
2008
Samuel Fosso, Autoportraits, Photo Ink, New Delhi,
India
Samuel Fosso, Autoportraits, Galeria Maman, Festival
de la Luz, Buenos Aires
El juego Africano
de lo Contemporaneo, Museo de Arte
Contemporaneo Union Fenosa, Coruña, Spain
Samuel Fosso, Vousserez beau, chic, délicate t facile à
reconnaître,
Autoportraits, Séléction
de Christian Lacroix, Festival des Rencontres de la photographique
d’Arles
2007
Africa Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa
Rencontres Photographiques de Bamako, Mali. Jean marc
patras/galerie, Paris (solo)
Role Exchange.Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, U.S.A
Samuel
Fosso, Monographie, 7ème Rencontres
Africaines de la Photographie, Bamako, Mali.
Samuel
Fosso, Vol.II
"Tati", jean marc patras / galerie, Paris.
Samuel
Fosso, Vol.I "Le Rêve de mon
Grand Père", jean marc patras / galerie, Paris
2006
Africa Remix, Mori Art Museum, Japan
Masquerade: the self in contemporary art, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Sydney Australia
The whole world is rotten, C/AC Art Center, Cincinatti, OH,
USA
2005
46th October Art Salon, Belgrade, Serbia
Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, London
Africa Remix,
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Autoportraits The Platform for Art, London Underground, Gloucester
Road Station (solo)
2004
Samuel Fosso
(restrospective). Calcografia, Rome, Italy (solo)
Samuel Fosso
(restrospective). Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Verona,
Italy (solo)
26th Sao Paolo
Biennale, Sao Paolo, Brasil
Image and Identity, Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya, Samuel Fosso,
Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, The Sheldon Art Galleries, St Louis, Mo,
USA
Africa Screams, Iwalewa Haus University Bayreuth, Germany
Africa Remix, Museum KunstPalast, Düsseldorf. Catalogue
(Catalogue cover, with "Le Chef")
2003
Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, Portraits of Pride, Bidens
Hus, Sundsvall/Norskt Fotomuseum Oslo, Norway
Make it Beautiful, the Dandy in Photography, Brighton Museum &
Art Gallery, Brighton, UK
Geometry of the face, Det Nationale Fotomuseum, Det Kongelige
Bibliotek, Copenhagen, Denmark
Samuel Fosso Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (solo)
Autoretratos,
PhotoEspana 2003. NosOtros, Madrid (solo)
Photo Espana 2003,
curated by Oliva María Rubio, Palacio de Velazquez, Madrid, Spain
2002
The 6th International Photography Gathering, Aleppo, Syria
Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, Portraits of Pride.
September Stockholm Fotofestival, Moderna Museet, C/O Enkehuset, Stockholm,
Sweden
2001 – 2002
The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa,
1945- 1994, curated by Okwui Enwezor, traveling to: Museum Villa Stuck, Munich;
Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Belgium; Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; P.S. 1 Museum for Contemporary Art, New York,
NY
2001
Africa Inside,
Tampere, Finland
2000
Dak’Art, Biennale
d’Art Contemporain Africain, Dakar, Sénégal
Africa Inside, Noordelicht photo Festival, Fries Museum, Leuwarden,
Netherlands
1999
Africa by Africa : a photographic view, Barbican Art Gallery,
London
Galerie Maï
Ollivier, Paris (solo)
1998
L’Afrique par
elle-même, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris
1997 -
1998
Samuel Fosso
Photographs, Greengrassi, London (solo)
1997
Studio Photo, 50 ans des magasins Tati, Musée des Arts Décoratifs,
Paris
L’Abattoir,
Châlon-sur –Saône, France
Lumière Noire,
Château de Tanlay, France
Retrats de l’anima
,Fotografia Africana, Centre Cultural de la Fundacio la Caixa, Granollers &
Vic, Barcelona
1996
In/Sight : African Photographers, 1940 to the present. Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Artothèque,
Grenoble, France
Festival des Trois continents, Nantes, France
Galerie du Théâtre,
Gap, France (solo)
1995
Centre Nationale de
la Photographie, Paris (solo)
Photographes Africains, FNAC, Forum des Halles, Paris
1994
Autoportraits,
"Première Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine", Bamako, Mali
Collections
Musée National d’Art Moderne/ Centre Pompidou, Paris
The Los
Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, NY, USA
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, USA
Princeton
University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, USA
Edwin A Ulrich Museum of Art,
Wichita, KS, USA
The Newark Museumof Art, Newark, NJ, USA
The Studio
Museum, Harlem, NY, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX, USA
Progressive
Corporation, Mayfield Village, OH, USA
International Center of Photography,
New York, NY, USA
Russo
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