Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou | |
---|---|
Born | 1965 (age 58–59) |
Known for | photography |
Movement | contemporary art |
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (born 1965), is a Beninese photographer.
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou was born in Porto-Novo in 1965.[ citation needed ] He is the son of Benin photographer Joseph Moise Agbodjelou (1912–2000).[ citation needed ] He does not have a formal education and was trained by his father.[ citation needed ] They traveled together with portable studio. They used a traditional colorful fabrics as a background for the people portraits they made. Leonce Agbodjelou founded the first Photography School in Benin. [1] He serves as the President of the Photographer's Association of Porto-Novo. [2]
Agbodjelou's portraiture series, Citizens of Porto-Novo depicts people of Benin's capital. He is using a daylight studio and a medium format film camera for the project. His 'Musclemen' shows staged studio photograph of muscular men, which is popular theme in the West Africa. [3] The 'Egungun' project are photographs of the masqueraders, depicting divine ancestors of Yoruba-speaking people. They usually appear at funerals to guide deceased to the spirit world. They can also appear at any time to protect people from misfortunes. [4]
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou works are in public collections around the world, including Zurich Museum of Art, Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Saatchi Collection in London, Carnegie Museum of Art, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town and Museum of Modern Art in Equatorial Guinea. [16]
Porto-Novo is the capital and second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of 110 square kilometres (42 sq mi) and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people.
Egungun, Yoruba language: Egúngún, also known as Ará Ọ̀run in the broadest sense is any Yoruba masquerade or masked, costumed figure. More specifically, it is a Yoruba masquerade for ancestor reverence, or the ancestors themselves as a collective force. Eégún is the reduced form of the word egúngún and has the same meaning. There is a misconception that Eegun/Egun is the singular form, or that it represents the ancestors while Egúngún is the masquerade or the plural form. This misconception is common in the Americas by Orisa devotees that do not speak Yorùbá language as a vernacular. Egungun is a visible manifestation of the spirits of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings.
Seydou Keïta was a Malian photographer known for his portraits of people and families he took at his portrait photography studio in Mali's capital, Bamako, in the 1950s. His photographs are widely acknowledged not only as a record of Malian society but also as pieces of art.
Traditional African masks are worn in ceremonies and rituals across West, Central, and Southern Africa. They are used in events such as harvest celebrations, funerals, rites of passage, weddings, and coronations. Some societies also use masks to resolve disputes and conflicts.
Calixte Dakpogan is a Beninese sculptor known for his installations as well as his masks made out of diverse and original found materials. A native of Pahou, he currently lives and works in Porto Novo. Much of his work is inspired by his Voudon heritage.
A masquerade ceremony is a cultural or religious event involving the wearing of masks. The practice has been seen throughout history from the prehistoric era to present day. They have a variety of themes. Their meanings can range from anything including life, death, and fertility. In the Dogon religion, the traditional beliefs of the Dogon people of Mali, there are several mask dances, including the Sigi festival. The Sigi entered the Guinness Book of Records as the "Longest religious ceremony".
The Yoruba of West Africa are responsible for a distinct artistic tradition in Africa, a tradition that remains vital and influential today.
Romuald Hazoumè is a Yoruba artist and sculptor, from the Republic of Bénin.
The Nigerian National Museum is a national museum of Nigeria, located in the city of Lagos. The museum has a notable collection of Nigerian art, including pieces of statuary, carvings, and archaeological and ethnographic exhibits. Of note is a terracotta human head known as the Jemaa Head, part of the Nok culture. The piece is named after Jema'a, the village where it was discovered. The museum is located at Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos State. The museum is administered by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Badagry, also spelled Badagri, is a coastal town and Local Government Area (LGA) in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is quite close to the city of Lagos, and located on the north bank of Porto Novo Creek, an inland waterway that connects Lagos to the Beninese capital of Porto-Novo. The same route connects Lagos, Ilaro, and Porto-Novo, and shares a border with the Republic of Benin. As of the preliminary 2006 census results, the municipality had a population of 241,093.
Peter Eastman is a South African artist living in Cape Town.
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Dominique "Kouas" Gnonnou is a contemporary Beninese artist and sculptor of Vodun art.
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Edson Chagas is an Angolan photographer. Trained as a photojournalist, his works explore cities and consumerism. In his "Found Not Taken" series, the artist resituates abandoned objects elsewhere within cities. Another series uses African masks as a trope for understanding consumerism in Luanda, his home city. Chagas represented Angola at the 2013 Venice Biennale, for which he won its Golden Lion for best national pavilion. He has also exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and Brooklyn Museum.
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Barbara Winston Blackmun was an art historian, professor, and museum director from the United States. She specialized in Nigerian antiquities, including Nok terracottas, the bronzes of Ife, and the bronzes and ivories of the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria. She was also known for her early use of computer analysis for motif identification and interpretation in African art. Born in Merced, California, Blackmun pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a teaching certificate at UCLA. She earned her Master of Arts from Arizona State University, focusing on Maravi masks from Malawi, and later completed her PhD at UCLA with a dissertation on the iconography of carved altar tusks from Benin, Nigeria.