Sammy Baloji, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Aïda Muluneh, Zina Saro-Wiwa and More Showing at FotoFest 2020

FotoFest reveals participating artists for its upcoming biennial, “African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other”, set for March 7 – April 19, 2020.

Participating artists for the 18th FotoFest International Biennial, focusing on artists of Africa and the African diaspora under the theme African Cosmologies, and curated by Mark Sealy MBE, Director of the renowned London-based photographic art institution Autograph ABP, have been revealed. The festival will examine the complex relationships between contemporary life in Africa, the African diaspora, and global histories of colonialism, photography, and rights and representation, and will highlight artists who confront and challenge images of the Western canon. 

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The Biennial’s central exhibition will show works from about 30 artists including Akinbode Akinbiyi, James Barnor, Zanele Muholi,  Zina Saro-Wiwa, the late Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Eric Gyamfi, Sammy Baloji and Aïda Muluneh. These artists examine social, cultural, and political conditions that inform and influence concepts of representation as they pertain to image production and circulation within Africa and beyond.

“The impact and the gravitational pull of the contemporary African photographic artist on the universe of photography has resulted in photography’s traditional epistemes—its deadly colonialities—being reluctantly dragged into processes of remaking, delinking, and rethinking the work of images in culture,” said Sealy. “The artists presented in ‘African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and Other’ are not simply reflective commentators, travelers, flaneurs, or self-appointed interpreters, rather they represent a commitment to human well-being and the production and sharing of new and old knowledges.”

Also included in the FotoFest 2020 programme is a series of films and a symposium of panels and presentations from the biennial artists and experts on contemporary and historic African history, diaspora, colonization, art, and photography in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.