Preserving and making visible the work of an artist created while stateless

Photographer Hélène Amouzou is widely known for her distinctive self-portraits that explore contemporary issues of people in exile. Drawing on her own experience of migration and a two-decade-long journey seeking safety and citizenship, Amouzou’s photographs explores questions of belonging and displacement.

Amouzou grew up in Togo in the decades following the country's independence and by the early 1990s, many began to protest against authoritarian rule. Due to her then husband being politically involved in these protests, she was forced to flee in 1992 with her newborn daughter – exiled alongside hundreds of thousands others. What followed was an unimaginable journey lasting nearly twenty years, during which she lived without an official immigration status.

Autoportrait – Molenbeek (2007-2011) was created during a period when Amouzou was seeking asylum in Belgium. In these charged self-portraits, she appears as an apparition amongst suitcases in a destitute attic. Through long exposures, her figure at times seems to fade into its surroundings, evoking the uncertainty of living without recognised status.

Artist, Helene Amouzou, said: “Being included in the collection is like a dream come true for me – a privilege and a great honour. Seeing my photographs displayed alongside those of renowned and established artists gives me the feeling that I am part of a greater story. To me, the collection represents a true cultural treasure, a place where present and future generations can appreciate and understand the diversity of narratives and representations within our communities.”

Autograph’s Senior Curator, Bindi Vora, said: “Hélène Amouzou’s deeply personal self-portraits are an assertion of agency and self-possession. What makes these works so powerful is the way they resist spectacle – speaking instead through duration, repetition and the accumulated weight of waiting. At a moment when displacement shapes so many lives and public discourse around migration is increasingly marked by hostility and dehumanisation, Amouzou’s work feels especially urgent.

For Autograph, acquiring these six works is about insisting that experiences of statelessness, precarity and enforced movement belong within our shared public memory. Since 1988, Autograph has challenged whose histories have been made visible within photography and visual culture. We are deeply grateful to Art Fund for making this acquisition possible and helping ensure these works remain in public care.”