‘The man with a thousand faces’ – the life of Samuel Fosso

Samuel Fosso started his own photography studio at the age of just 13 years old. He was living in the Central African Republic, where he had moved to after growing up with his grandmother in Nigeria. They had formed a strong bond after being displaced during the Nigerian civil war and living through difficult circumstances, struggling to find shelter and food to eat. Living apart, Samuel wanted to keep her up to date with how he was getting on, so he started taking self-portraits and sending them back to Nigeria.

These photographs were later discovered by a French photographer and exhibited at the first Biennale of African Photography held in Mali in 1994, gaining Samuel widespread recognition and launching his career as an artist. His work has seen him pose as historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr, Mao Zedong, and Kwame Nkrumah. But in 2014, war entered Samuel’s life again, when his house was looted during a conflict in the CAR. He thought his whole archive of photos and negatives had been destroyed. Receiving the renowned Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize in 2023, Samuel shared this advice: “You just have to work, look for food to eat, and later you’ll be famous.”

(Photo: Samuel Fosso poses in one of his breakout photographs, The Liberated American Woman of the 70s. Dressed as a woman in a colourful patchwork outfit and purple high heels, he crouches on the floor and looks straight at the camera. The floor is red and white check, and the backdrop is made up of painted bright green leaves. Credit: © Samuel Fosso, courtesy JM Patras/Paris)

Audio credit: The Photographers' Gallery

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Translation and interpreting: Genevieve Sagno

Voiceover artist: Gaius Kowene

Producer: Rob Wilson