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Samuel Fosso: Autoportrait
"Engaging with notions of perception and sexuality, Fosso’s groundbreaking portraiture reflects themes of global culture and the freedom of self-expression.” – Vanity Fair A New York Times Book Review 2020 holiday gift guide pick
Autoportrait is the first comprehensive survey of the multifaceted oeuvre of Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso (born 1962). Since the mid-1970s, Fosso has focused on self-portraiture and performance, envisioning variations of identity in the postcolonial era. From Fosso’s early black-and-white self-portraits from the 1970s to his recent exercises in self-presentation, highlights include the vibrant series Tati (1997), in which he playfully inhabits African and African American characters and archetypes; and the magisterial portraits of African Spirits (2008), where he poses as icons of the pan-African liberation and Civil Rights movements, such as Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., Patrice Lumumba and Nelson Mandela.
This landmark monograph demonstrates Fosso’s unique departure from the traditions of West African studio photography, established in the 1950s and ’60s by modern masters Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé. By charting his conceptual practice of self-portraiture, and sustained engagement with notions of sexuality, gender and self-representation, this book reveals an unprecedented photographic project.
Autoportrait is the first comprehensive survey of the multifaceted oeuvre of Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso (born 1962). Since the mid-1970s, Fosso has focused on self-portraiture and performance, envisioning variations of identity in the postcolonial era. From Fosso’s early black-and-white self-portraits from the 1970s to his recent exercises in self-presentation, highlights include the vibrant series Tati (1997), in which he playfully inhabits African and African American characters and archetypes; and the magisterial portraits of African Spirits (2008), where he poses as icons of the pan-African liberation and Civil Rights movements, such as Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., Patrice Lumumba and Nelson Mandela.
This landmark monograph demonstrates Fosso’s unique departure from the traditions of West African studio photography, established in the 1950s and ’60s by modern masters Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé. By charting his conceptual practice of self-portraiture, and sustained engagement with notions of sexuality, gender and self-representation, this book reveals an unprecedented photographic project.
- GenresPhotography
188 pages, Hardcover
Published August 11, 2020
23 people want to read
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December 30, 2020
Born in 1962 to Nigerian parents in Cameroon, Samuel Fosso moved at age 10 to Central African Republic to live with his uncle after both his parents had died. Once with his uncle, he came upon a photography studio in town, asked to serve as an apprentice, and by age 13 (!) set up his own commercial portrait studio. To let his beloved grandmother know how he was doing, Fosso used the unexposed film at the end of the rolls to photograph himself in various poses and guises, many based upon images found in fashion magazines.
The photographs are positive, self-assured, and aware of the gaze they hope to provoke. Mimicking these images required him to learn and master the film and lighting techniques they used. It also gave him a place to inhabit the roles and postures shot, a sort of acting one frame at a time. Of course Cindy Sherman comes to mind, but Fosso began this work in the mid-‘70s half a planet away.
Since those early works, Fosso has developed a body of work in which he explores (and inhabits) a variety of roles—as enacting a variety of dreams he imagines his grandfather having, re-enacting himself in his house as his neighbor and friend across the way is beaten and murdered by the police, posing as the Africans and African-diaspora whose influence on him embodies the African spirit unifying all of them, and so forth. Fosso’s work is historical, political, personal, comedic, serious, and artistic.
I don’t how to take his series “Emperor of Africa” as anything but parodic. In/as the “Emperor,” Fosso re-enacts a series of photographs of Mao Zedong taken during his reign of mass murder. With the Chinese government currently exploiting African resources in the grand Western tradition, the series also has implications for local government corruption in answering the question, “Do Africans really run Africa?”
Autoportrait is a comprehensive, career-spanning overview of one the world’s pre-eminent photographers. In addition to a biographical interview with Fosso, each portfolio from his various projects is followed by an accessible essay that explains the works’ background. Highly recommended.
The photographs are positive, self-assured, and aware of the gaze they hope to provoke. Mimicking these images required him to learn and master the film and lighting techniques they used. It also gave him a place to inhabit the roles and postures shot, a sort of acting one frame at a time. Of course Cindy Sherman comes to mind, but Fosso began this work in the mid-‘70s half a planet away.
Since those early works, Fosso has developed a body of work in which he explores (and inhabits) a variety of roles—as enacting a variety of dreams he imagines his grandfather having, re-enacting himself in his house as his neighbor and friend across the way is beaten and murdered by the police, posing as the Africans and African-diaspora whose influence on him embodies the African spirit unifying all of them, and so forth. Fosso’s work is historical, political, personal, comedic, serious, and artistic.
I don’t how to take his series “Emperor of Africa” as anything but parodic. In/as the “Emperor,” Fosso re-enacts a series of photographs of Mao Zedong taken during his reign of mass murder. With the Chinese government currently exploiting African resources in the grand Western tradition, the series also has implications for local government corruption in answering the question, “Do Africans really run Africa?”
Autoportrait is a comprehensive, career-spanning overview of one the world’s pre-eminent photographers. In addition to a biographical interview with Fosso, each portfolio from his various projects is followed by an accessible essay that explains the works’ background. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 of 1 review