Hanes Visiting Artist Lecture Series: Samuel Fosso

This talk is a collaboration with the North Carolina Museum of Art, Department of Art & Art History, and the CLICK photography festival. Working with photography, self-portraiture and performance, Fosso’s work occupies a central position in the contemporary art world. The talk will be held in 121 Hanes Art Center.

Samuel Fosso will also be speaking at 21c Museum Hotel in Durham as part of the Click! Photography Festival. You can find more information about that event at A Conversation with Samuel Fosso.

Working between photography, self-portraiture, and performance, the work of Franco-Cameroonian photographer Samuel Fosso occupies a central position in the international contemporary art world.

From his early works in the 70s, creation of alternate identities that challenged representational conventions, Samuel Fosso has given autofiction and self-portraiture a new dimension, one that is all at once political and historical, fictional and intimate. Embodying key historical figures and social archetypes has become for him not only a way of existing in the world, but also a clear demonstration of the power of photography to construct myths, and a way to question what is at stake in accepted codes of representation and identity.

Samuel Fosso lives and works in Bangui, Central African Republic and Paris, France. He has had solo exhibitions at the Menil Collection in Houston, the Walther Collection in Neu-Ulm and New York, the Maison européeenne de la photographie in Paris, the National Portrait Gallery in London, LagosPhoto Festival in Lagos, and the Institute Francais in Dakar. His work is in the collections of the MNAM in Paris, Tate in London, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Montreal, MoMA, the Guggenheim, Studio Museum Harlem and the Met in New York, LACMA in Los Angeles, and the NCMA and Ackland Museum.

This event is part of the Click! Photography Festival and is also co-sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Art.

An endowment established in 1983 through the generosity of Nancy and Robin Hanes supports the Art Department’s Visiting Artist Series. This important program brings both established and emerging artists to campus to discuss their work in public lectures and to offer individual critiques to our M.F.A. students. All lectures are free and open to the public.

A weeknight or daytime permit is now required after 5:00 pm on weekdays. There is no permit required from 5:00 pm Friday through 7:30 am Monday. A $1.00 one-night pass is available in selected lots. More information can be found at UNC Weeknight Parking.

Artist website: https://samuelfosso.com/