Samuel Fosso

The exhibition encompasses the entire museum to reveal the breadth and richness of Fosso’s oeuvre. For almost fifty years Fosso has explored the possibilities offered by the medium of photography to present a refreshing and relevant vision of today’s world.

A master of performance

Samuel Fosso’s work is part of a long African tradition of studio photography, of which Malick Sidibé and Seydou Keïta are the most eminent practitioners, but he has also made a major contribution to reinventing this photographic genre by turning the camera on himself and transforming his photo studio into a kind of playground – a space of absolute freedom in which he can embody a wide variety of characters. His unique body of work brings photography fully into the realm of performance art, positioning him alongside such major international artists as Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura. Samuel Fosso utilizes the body, clothing, accessories and poses as essential tools with which to deconstruct representations of stereotypes, in particular those related to gender identity, race and social class.

First time

Fosso’s work, which is located somewhere between photography and performance, occupies a central place in the international contemporary art world. It has been shown in such leading institutes as the Tate Modern in London, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as many prestigious private and public collections. This large-scale retrospective brings all his most important series together for the first time in the Netherlands.