Samuel Fosso 

1962 Born in Kunmba (Cameroon)

1965 - 1972 Lived in Nigeria

1975 Moved to Bangui, Central African Republic, where he opened his first photography studio

1994 Thanks to Bernard Descamps’ research, Samuel Fosso’s self-portraits are shown for the first time at the "1st Bamako Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine" launched by Françoise Huguier, who discovered both Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keita.

Lives and works in Bangui, Central African Republic

Awards

1995 Afrique en Création, Paris

2000 Dak’Art Firts prize for photography. Dakar, Senegal

2001 Prince Claus Fund Award, Den Hague, The Netherlands

 

 

Selected Exhibitions

 

2009

Samuel Fosso, African Spirits, jean marc patras / galerie, Paris

Samuel Fosso, Monographie. Bamako, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain

 

2008

Samuel Fosso, Autoportraits, Photo Ink, New Delhi, India

Samuel Fosso, Autoportraits, Galeria Maman, Festival de la Luz, Buenos Aires

El juego Africano de lo Contemporaneo, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Union Fenosa, Coruña, Spain

Samuel Fosso, Vousserez beau, chic, délicate t facile à reconnaître, Autoportraits, Séléction de Christian Lacroix, Festival des Rencontres de la photographique d’Arles

 

2007

Africa Remix, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa

Rencontres Photographiques de Bamako, Mali. Jean marc patras/galerie, Paris (solo)

Role Exchange.Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, U.S.A

Samuel Fosso, Monographie, 7ème Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie, Bamako, Mali.

Samuel Fosso, Vol.II "Tati", jean marc patras / galerie, Paris.

Samuel Fosso, Vol.I "Le Rêve de mon Grand Père", jean marc patras / galerie, Paris

 

2006

Africa Remix, Mori Art Museum, Japan

Masquerade: the self in contemporary art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Australia

The whole world is rotten, C/AC Art Center, Cincinatti, OH, USA

 

2005

46th October Art Salon, Belgrade, Serbia

Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, London

Africa Remix, Centre Pompidou, Paris

Autoportraits The Platform for Art, London Underground, Gloucester Road Station (solo)

 

2004

Samuel Fosso (restrospective). Calcografia, Rome, Italy (solo)

Samuel Fosso (restrospective). Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Verona, Italy (solo)

26th Sao Paolo Biennale, Sao Paolo, Brasil

Image and Identity, Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya, Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, The Sheldon Art Galleries, St Louis, Mo, USA

Africa Screams, Iwalewa Haus University Bayreuth, Germany

Africa Remix, Museum KunstPalast, Düsseldorf. Catalogue (Catalogue cover, with "Le Chef")

 

2003

Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, Portraits of Pride, Bidens Hus, Sundsvall/Norskt Fotomuseum Oslo, Norway

Make it Beautiful, the Dandy in Photography, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Brighton, UK

Geometry of the face, Det Nationale Fotomuseum, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen, Denmark

Samuel Fosso Jack Shainman Gallery, New York (solo)

Autoretratos, PhotoEspana 2003. NosOtros, Madrid (solo)

Photo Espana 2003, curated by Oliva María Rubio, Palacio de Velazquez, Madrid, Spain

 

2002

The 6th International Photography Gathering, Aleppo, Syria

Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé, Portraits of Pride. September Stockholm Fotofestival, Moderna Museet, C/O Enkehuset, Stockholm, Sweden

 

2001 – 2002

The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945- 1994, curated by Okwui Enwezor, traveling to: Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Martin-Gropius-Bau, Belgium; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; P.S. 1 Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, NY

 

2001

Africa Inside, Tampere, Finland

 

2000

Dak’Art, Biennale d’Art Contemporain Africain, Dakar, Sénégal

Africa Inside, Noordelicht photo Festival, Fries Museum, Leuwarden, Netherlands

 

1999

Africa by Africa : a photographic view, Barbican Art Gallery, London

Galerie Maï Ollivier, Paris (solo)

 

1998

L’Afrique par elle-même, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris

 

1997 - 1998

Samuel Fosso Photographs, Greengrassi, London (solo)

 

1997

Studio Photo, 50 ans des magasins Tati, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

L’Abattoir, Châlon-sur –Saône, France

Lumière Noire, Château de Tanlay, France

Retrats de l’anima ,Fotografia Africana, Centre Cultural de la Fundacio la Caixa, Granollers & Vic, Barcelona

 

1996

In/Sight : African Photographers, 1940 to the present. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Artothèque, Grenoble, France

Festival des Trois continents, Nantes, France

Galerie du Théâtre, Gap, France (solo)

 

1995

Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris (solo)

Photographes Africains, FNAC, Forum des Halles, Paris

 

1994

Autoportraits, "Première Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine", Bamako, Mali

 

 

Collections
Musée National d’Art Moderne/ Centre Pompidou, Paris
The Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA, USA
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, USA
Edwin A Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS, USA
The Newark Museumof Art, Newark, NJ, USA
The Studio Museum, Harlem, NY, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX, USA
Progressive Corporation, Mayfield Village, OH, USA
International Center of Photography, New York, NY, USA