Collecting African contemporary photography.

Three years ago I decided to put together a small collection of African contemporary photography. I am a collector at heart, I love the process of looking , getting to learn about the artists and the world they live in, understanding the particular issues being addressed in their art,  following the new developments, selecting what I like, and making  the decision to buy.

I wanted to learn more about the art being made in Africa, and wished also to be supportive. So every year  I allow myself  a purchase or two. This year was the work of Samuel Fosso.

When I attended the opening of the exhibition “The Progress of Love’ at the Menil Collection in Houston last November, I met the photographer Samuel Fosso and his French agent Jean Marc Patras. I was quite thrilled. I like very much Samuel Fosso’s work and had had it in my mind to add him to my collection of African Contemporary photography.  At Paris Photo in 2011 I had seen his latest series African Spirits exhibited as part of the collection of Artur Walther and had been quite taken by the display of his impersonations of iconic historical figures of the Black movement.  I like the performative aspect of his work and the complex layering of signifiers.

Samuel Fosso started with straightforward self-referential auto-portraits done in his studio in Bangui in the Central African Republic in the 1970‘s capturing the stylish glamour of the time. These auto-portraits gradually evolved towards portraits that were more impersonations with sociological undertones, such as ones from the Tati series, Le chef qui a vendu l’Afrique aux colons and La femme Americaine liberée.  

In his latest series African Spirits Fosso steps into history and pays tribute to the figureheads of the Black movement in Africa and in the US. His discourse which was quite personal in the 70’s, shifted towards the sociological to now adopt a much more politically engaged stance. The world is a much bigger stage in this mature period of his life. The characters he impersonates are many legendary figures that set the intellectual and political course of Africa and in so doing Fosso addresses the issue of Negritude. As Simon Njami in his forward to the catalogue of Samuel Fosso’s work published by the Revue Noire reminds us, “ Even if we find faces which we might be able to associate with real names, we are inside a metaphor. Inside the abstraction represented by symbols. Fosso has disappeared entirely. The bodies that we see represented are no longer his but those of the people he impersonates.”  Fosso’s work is increasingly relevant to his community and also to a broader audience. It is always gratifying for me to see an artist expand his vision, and in so doing gets his voice heard more broadly.

I met up with Jean Marc Patras in Paris a month ago. He took time to describe Fosso’s production process, which involves tech guys and make up artists. Fosso selects carefully before the shooting session the images he wishes to capture. He often bases his compositions on real photographs found in photo archives of his characters. Nothing is arbitrary in his process.

He chose to represent the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie I, with the Star of David hanging from his belt to identify him as the leader of the Rastafari who see themselves as the real Children of Israel. Thereby Fosso highlights Selassie’s almost God like importance to them. He shows Muhammad Ali as Saint Sebastian, his body pierced with spears referencing the time Ali refused to be conscripted in the US military during the Vietnam war and was arrested for avoiding the draft. He was not able to fight in the ring for the next four years. With my own art knowledge grounded in art history the art historical reference was another reason I was keen on the Ali image.

Fosso looks phenomenal as Angela Davis! I also wanted to include one of the most influential figures in the shaping of Negritude, a literary and ideological movement founded by francophone intellectuals in Paris. It centered on the fact of being black and opposed colonialism and racism. I chose Aimé Cesaire, who appears quite stern and stylish with his astrakhan hat, which he wore even indoors during a visit to France. He felt cold coming from Martinique. Finally I selected an African leader, Patrice Lumumba, whose tragic end is an example of the problematic and shameful meddling of Western powers in the affairs of the Congo.

As of now, the battle still rages in Fosso’s world. He is living through a dramatic time in Bangui. There has been recently a coup in Bangui and President Bozizé was deposed. The rebels have taken over the city and pillaging and killings took place notably in Fosso’s neighborhood. Fortunately he is  safe for now.

Many years after its hard won independence in 1960 the Congo has not found peace.  Seen in this context African Spirits is a reminder that responsibility is the key to achieving peace.  These leaders spoke up and took responsibility for themselves and their future. They are and can be a source of pride and inspiration for this generation of black people. Jean Marc Patras recounted how he saw a group of young cool black youths walk into his space  and be totally enthusiastic when they understood that Fosso had impersonated these key figures. They shared their pride in their own people’s history.