#samuelfosso

[listening2images]

👁 #SamuelFosso “SIXSIXSIX” #ListeningToImages #Listening2Images #Photobooks https://www.instagram.com/p/ChcnhAGo3J4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mia-africa-americas]

Autoportrait, from the series "70's Lifestyle", Samuel Fosso, 1975-1978 (printed 2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art: Art of Africa and the Americas

black and white image of young man wearing reflective black, half-frame glasses and sleeveless shirt printed with image of two men and pattern; sheet and floral-patterm platform in background “I have to admit, I didn’t know I was making artistic photographs. It was a discovery for me.” For years, the young Samuel Fosso—born in Cameroon to Nigerian parents, living in Bangui (Central African Republic)—had been making self-portraits in black-and-white to send to his family in Nigeria. He experimented with props, poses, and costumes in flamboyant 1970s fashion. Much later, in 1994, these private photos were shown for the first time at the African Photography Encounters in Bamako, Mali. Fosso won the First Prize, and realized he was an artist. Size: 20 1/8 × 19 15/16 in. (51.12 × 50.64 cm) (image) 22 × 22 in. (55.88 × 55.88 cm) (sheet) Medium: Gelatin silver print

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/136517/

[artbookdap]

More photos by Samuel Fosso, from 'Autoportrait,' published by @steidlverlag & @walthercollect⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Edited with text and interview by Okwui Enwezor. Foreword by Artur Walther, Jean-Marc Patras. Text by Quentin Bajac, Yves Chatap, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Terry Smith, Claire Staebler, James Thomas.⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Okwui Enwezor comments, in conversation with Fosso, "Your relationship to photography has something much deeper, a more personal motivation. From the start it was autobiographical; it had to do with the conditions of your life and how to document that life as it was being transformed. But what you are very well known for are photographic images in which your studio became⁠⠀ a theater, a liberated space where you played with codes of representation of gender, sexuality, masculinity, and fashion. This liberated space that was your studio produced some of the most unique and singular examples⁠⠀ of studio practice, and I am here thinking of artists such as John Coplans, Pierre Molinier, Van Leo, Cindy Sherman, Yasumasa Morimura, and others who had also made themselves their own subjects. But in your case, you were not so much making self-portraits as you were invested in working with invented characters, with you as an avatar. This is perhaps why your work has been compared most often with that of Sherman."⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ Please order from your local independent #bookstorehero — many are reopening or offering curbside pickup! A list of #blackownedbookstores is here: https://manylink.co/@artbook⁠⠀⁠⠀⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ @samuelfosso #samuelfosso #samuelfossoautoportrait⁠⠀ ⁠ https://www.instagram.com/p/CDCsN_cpTc2/?igshid=17670ujnz2poh

[okokoroko]

Bigger than your frame! #SamuelFosso #carmeroon #paris #legend (at Lagos, Nigeria)

[mia-africa-americas]

Autoportrait, from the series "70's Lifestyle", Samuel Fosso, 1975-1978 (printed 2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art: Art of Africa and the Americas

black and white image of young man wearing dark, high-waisted bell bottoms, light collared shirt, sunglasses, and hat, standing on checkboard floor; sheet hanging in background over floral-print platform; out of focus spotlights visible on left and right in foreground “I have to admit, I didn’t know I was making artistic photographs. It was a discovery for me.” For years, the young Samuel Fosso—born in Cameroon to Nigerian parents, living in Bangui (Central African Republic)—had been making self-portraits in black-and-white to send to his family in Nigeria. He experimented with props, poses, and costumes in flamboyant 1970s fashion. Much later, in 1994, these private photos were shown for the first time at the African Photography Encounters in Bamako, Mali. Fosso won the First Prize, and realized he was an artist. Size: 20 1/16 × 20 in. (50.96 × 50.8 cm) (image) 22 × 22 1/16 in. (55.88 × 56.04 cm) (sheet) Medium: Gelatin silver print

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/136518/

[mia-africa-americas]

Autoportrait, from the series "70's Lifestyle", Samuel Fosso, 1975-1978 (printed 2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art: Art of Africa and the Americas

black and white image of young man looking out from gap between two patterned sheets, standing on a floral patterned platform; out of focus spotlights visible on left in foreground “I have to admit, I didn’t know I was making artistic photographs. It was a discovery for me.” For years, the young Samuel Fosso—born in Cameroon to Nigerian parents, living in Bangui (Central African Republic)—had been making self-portraits in black-and-white to send to his family in Nigeria. He experimented with props, poses, and costumes in flamboyant 1970s fashion. Much later, in 1994, these private photos were shown for the first time at the African Photography Encounters in Bamako, Mali. Fosso won the First Prize, and realized he was an artist. Size: 20 1/8 × 20 1/16 in. (51.12 × 50.96 cm) (image) 22 × 22 1/16 in. (55.88 × 56.04 cm) (sheet) Medium: Gelatin silver print

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/136516/