Samuel Fosso: AUTOPORTRAIT
Out of Stock- Regular price
- $150.00
- Sale price
- $150.00
- Regular price
-
- Unit price
- / per
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-one that consistently reflects themes in global visual culture, and covers the range of expressive applications of photography.
Taking pictures is for me a way of liberating myself from the suffering of childhood, from illness, war, everything. I always believed that my life would be pushed aside by other people's, but photography has given me a second life. It's made all lives possible for me. - Samuel Fosso
Born in Kumba in Cameroon in 1962, Samuel Fosso fled Nigeria and the Biafra War, and sought refuge in Bangui in the Central African Republic. He opened his own commercial photography studio there at the age of 13. Alongside his portrait work Fosso began a series of self-portraits, a mode of representation he would never abandon. Staging his personal identity, his work gradually took on a universal social and political dimension, as in his celebrated series "Tati" (1997) and "African Spirits" (2008). Fosso's work is held in collections such as the Tate, London; the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; The Walther Collection, New York; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
You May Also Like
View moreSign up to our Newsletter
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.