In my recent project, I was looking for ways to creatively tell the story of Africans and how much their personalities reveal their cultural experiences. That led me to research the history of African portraits, how it tells their individual stories, and how these portraits convey a lot of messages as a form of identity.
The West African Portrait became well known in the 1960s and 1970s when renowned photographers of that era commonized portrait photography that embraces the essence and beauty of the African people. Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita, Maliki Sidibe, and several others. This early history of African portrait testifies to how the elites of the early days’ stories are told using elements that are peculiar to their cultural acclimation.
In those early days, it was very difficult to see photographers around. Unlike today when one can personally take photographs of oneself, photographers moved from door to door, from one region to another offering their services before they eventually establish a personal studio in the long run. Each of these photographs affirms the socioeconomic and social well-being of the subject.
As evolution takes its toll African photographers through portraiture as an advanced method of understanding the African culture and its evolution. This gave rise to portraits of public figures, exposing tyranny and criticism with the influence of F.W.H Arkhurst photographer born in the Gold Coast region.
The view of photography in Africa has gravitated to a whole new level which started off with the first gathering of African photographers in 1994 in Bamako, Mali. The retrospective look into the creative work of Seydou Keita has now sparked interest in other young photographers. The younger photographers creatively change the narrative of the African portraiture by involving different approaches from the established norm.
