Samuel Fosso

Samuel Fosso (1962 Kumba, CM – Bangui, CF; Paris, FR) is one of Africa’s best-known contemporary photographers. In the mid-1970s, he provided the great tradition of African studio photography with new impetus, developing his own form of explicitly theatrical self-portrait and refining it over subsequent years. In his self-portraits, Fosso combines photography and performance and links autobiographical themes and self-concepts with political and historical perspectives. These works are an expression of the complexity and diversity of contemporary identities and an exploration of the relations between Africa and the East and the West in the era of postcolonialism and globalization.

In his auto-fictional self-portraits with elaborate make-up and lavish costumes, props, and backdrops, Fosso does not primarily depict himself. Instead he enacts a transformation of his person. He enters into roles and borrows identities—from key historical figures and from social archetypes that are often deeply anchored in a globally networked collective memory of images. In these embodiments, Fosso challenges the media, social, and political effects of these icons and representations, using his own person as a representative and catalyst. Fosso’s self-portraits are highly artificial scenic portrayals that are created on the stage of the photo studio, where Fosso operates at the same time as photographer, actor, and director. With his analytic gaze and theatrical talent, in his works he masterfully reveals and undermines social codes pertaining to the body, fashion, poses, facial expressions, and gaze as well as collective ascriptions of identity relating to gender, sexual orientation, and ethnic and social origin.

This retrospective organized by the Generali Foundation at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg presented a selection of the most important work groups by Samuel Fosso. It was the first comprehensive presentation of Fosso’s work in Austria and one of his first solo shows in the German-speaking world.