NEW YORK, NY.- Yossi Milo announced representation of prominent Cameroonian-Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso (b. 1962; Kumba, Cameroon). A solo exhibition of Fosso’s work will be held at Yossi Milo in 2025. In advance of this presentation, works by Fosso will be exhibited at the upcoming edition of the Armory show.

Known for his self-portraits in which he inhabits a vibrant array of personas, photographer Samuel Fosso examines African identities and histories through costume and impersonation, emphasizing self-representation as a locus of empowerment. Since the early 1970s, Fosso has explored archetypal figures from Africa and beyond, embodying characters in varied series in which he constructs and deconstructs personae both imagined and historical. In this way, the artist celebrates and questions notions of African identity and takes an active stance in the dynamics of viewership on a global stage.

The playful manner in which Fosso utilizes his costumes and sets belies a deeper examination of the histories of colonial rule across Africa, and of the construction of cultural identity, as well as notions of masculinity and gender at large. In his series African Spirits, the artist recreates in black-and-white the visages of historic activist figures such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Haile Selassie, Angela Davis, and Malcolm X, going as far as mirroring poses from their most iconic images. In his Tati series, Fosso dons his costumes with ironic flair, sending up kings, middle-class women, and pirates alike in vibrant, full-color photographs. Through satire, the artist addresses vital questions around the commodification of Africa, employing the visual language of Africa’s distinct history of studio photography to great effect. The practice of self-depiction locates Fosso within a legacy of artists who utilize self-portraiture as a method of locating themselves within the art-historical canon as subjects, makers, and spectators all at once.

Samuel Fosso was born in Cameroon to Nigerian parents, and was raised in Afikpo, Nigeria, before fleeing unrest in the region in 1972 following the Nigerian Civil War. Settling in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, the artist opened his own photo portrait studio at just thirteen years old after spending a year as an apprentice. A key element for success as a studio photographer at that time was expediency, and Fosso’s clientele demanded a quick turnaround for their photographs. In an effort to finish rolls of film so they could be processed at the end of each day’s work, the artist would take irreverent and off-the-cuff self-portraits, sparking a practice that would continue for the rest of his career.

Samuel Fosso has mounted solo exhibitions at prominent institutions around the globe, including the Menil Collection, Houston, TX; the Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; the National Portrait Gallery, London, England, and the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Germany, among many others. Fosso has exhibited work in numerous prominent exhibitions internationally, including the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX; Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; the Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, and the CentrePompidou, Paris, France. Works by Fosso are held in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NewYork, NY; the Tate Modern, London, England; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NewYork, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, among others. In 1994, Fosso was awarded 1st Prize at the Rencontres de la Photographie, Bamako, Mali, which launched his career internationally. The artist has since been awarded numerous prizes and accolades, such as the Prix Afrique en Creations in 1995, the First Prize for photography at the Dak’Art Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, Dakar, Senegal in 2000, and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2023. Fossolives and works between Bangui, Central African Republic, and Paris, France.