Afro(Pho)tography

Ghanaian photographer Phillip K. Apagya uses vibrant hand-painted backdrops in his studio to place his subjects in western living environments, here emphasizing the mystified materialism of the "American Dream" as seen by Africans.

Maroons, 2010. - Fabrice Montiero | Benin In this series Montiero draws from a childhood fascination with slave shackles from reading the comic book "Les Passagers du Vent". Isolating his models in a dark room with shackles intended to keep them captive, Montiero channels the enslaved Africans who built the Americas in a striking and sobering way; immortalizing his subjects and juxtaposing his visual fascination with its violent and horrific context

"Le Chef: celui qui a vendu L'Afrique aux colons" from the series "Série Tati, autoportrait I-V, 1997. - Samuel Fosso

Portrait of Abdulai Yahaya (here aged 14) in Ghana's Agbogblishie Slum where computers from abroad are taken apart to salvage spare parts and precious metals; 2010 - Pieter Hugo | South African.

Aminata, 2013 - Omar Victor Diop | Senegal

Stills from a recent series exploring the barbershops in Popenguine, Senegal. (2016) - Ibra Ake | Nigerian Ake reminisces of his own childhood growing up in Nigeria by capturing scenes reminiscent of the environment he knew.

Stunning Portraits by the Master Seydou Kïeta.

"Acrobats" - Namsa Leuba

“Ya Kala Ben” , 2011 - Namsa Leuba | Guinean & Swiss. • Leuba explains her approach to this series she captured in a trip to Conkray in Guinea: “In this work, I was interested in the construction and deconstruction of the body as well as the depiction of the invisible. I have studied ritual artifacts common to the cosmology of Guineans; statuettes that are part of a ceremonial structure. They are from another world, they are the roots of the living. Thereby, I sought to touch the untouchable.”

Amaal Said (@amaalsaid) Amaal Said's portraiture gracefully reclaims the visual narrative of those who have immigrated from African countries to Europe and thus find themselves at a cultural crossroads. With soft tones and vibrant palettes Said manipulates her London environment to create a world all her own, rich with beauty and light.

In her 2006-11 series “Faces and Phases”, Zanele Muholi photographed over 200 portraits of the South African Lesbian community, offering an intimate glimpse into LGBTQ life in South Africa. Muholi’s portraits aimed to diminish the notion of homosexuality being “un-African” by giving a face and voice to a community too frequently silenced and oppressed in African countries. Muholi described these portraits as being “at once a visual statement and an archive”, operating as a form of visual activism and preservation.

"Nuit de Noël" (1963) - Malick Sidibé This will forever remain one of my favorite things of in the universe. For me the beauty lies in the story it tells to each person who sees it. Unfortunately beautiful stories like this often go unseen or un-shown , so I (a Kenyan photographer) wanted to make a space where people can find us if they're looking. Enjoy some light, love and thousands stories of from the lenses of those often ignored 。