| Intro | Cameroonian photographer |
| Is | Photographer |
| From |
Nigeria Cameroon |
| Type | Arts |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
17 July 1962, Kumba |
| Age | 58 years |
Samuel Fosso (born 17 July 1962) is a Cameroonian photographer who has worked for most of his career in the Central African Republic. His work includes uses self portraits adopting a series of personas, often commenting on the history of Africa.
Life
Fosso was born in Kumba, near the border with Biafra, then a de facto independent state within Nigeria. He grew up in this neighboring country until he had to flee to Bangui in the Central African Republic in 1972 because of the Nigerian Civil War.
Here he began to work as an assistant photographer when he was twelve, and a year later as a portrait photographer with his own studio in Bangui, ‘Studio Photo Nationale’. Initially he made self-portraits to fill up the unused parts of his photographic films. These photographs were destined for his mother, who had stayed behind in Nigeria. The making of self-portraits became an objective on its own for him.
For his self-portraits he used special cloth backgrounds, in front of which he dressed up in costumes that varied greatly: authentic European costumes, African folk costumes, navy uniforms, karate keikogis, boxer shorts, and so on.
In 1994 Fosso became known abroad when he won the first edition of the African Photography Encounters in Bamako, Mali, the most important photography festival in Africa. He also won international awards, including the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands in 2001.
Fosso’s style is somewhat comparable with that of Diane Arbus, in that his self-portraits show a glimpse of our own humanity. Arbus’s photography has been said to show that everyone has their own identity, that is to say what remains when we take away the rest. In contrast Fosso’s varying costumes are said to show that identity is determined partly as well by things over which humans lack control. His work has therefore also been characterized as having a disclosure of how humans can in fact create their own identity.
On 5 February 2014, amidst looting after sectarian violence, Fosso’s home studio in Bangui, containing his complete archive, was ransacked. This was discovered by chance by photojournalist Jerome Delay, who, along with fellow photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale, and Peter Bouckaert (Emergency Director at Human Rights Watch), rescued the majority of its contents, estimated at 20,000 negatives and 150 to 200 prints, though Fosso’s cameras were stolen. Fosso was in Paris at the time.
Awards
- 1994: 1st Prize, Rencontres de la Photographie, Bamako, Mali
- 1995: Prix Afrique en Creations
- 2000: First Prize, photography category, Dak’Art – Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, Dakar, Sénégal
- 2001: Prince Claus Award, Netherlands
- 2010: 1st Prize in Visual Arts Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
Literature
- Samuel Fosso. Seydou Keita. Malick Sidibe. Portraits of Pride. West African Portrait Photography. Raster Forlag, 2003. ISBN 978-9171006776.
- Maria Francesca and Guido Schlinkert. Samuel Fosso. 5Continents, 2008. ISBN 978-8874391011.
- Simon Njami and Samuel Fosso. Samuel Fosso – PHotoBolsillo International, Revue Noire, 2011. ISBN 978-8492841622.