Autograph, London

Rotimi Fani-Kayode:
The Studio – Staging Desire

31 Oct 2024 - 22 Mar 2025

Free exhibition
Curated by Mark Sealy

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Exploring a radical vision of culture, intimacy, desire and pain

in development

This exhibition is in currently in development at Autograph

Address

Autograph
Rivington Place
London EC2A 3BA, UK

TICKETS

Prebook free, timed tickets or visit anytime the gallery is open

My reality is not the same as that which often presented to us in western photography. As an African working in a western medium, I try to bring out the spiritual dimensions in my pictures so that concepts of reality become ambiguous and are opened to re-interpretation. This requires what Yoruba priests and artists call a technique of ecstasy.

Rotimi Fani-Kayode, 1988

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

In a space where the barriers between difference and fantasy are dissolved, Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s photographs are a spirited exploration of culture, intimacy, desire and pain. From 1983 until his death in 1989, the artist lived and worked in Brixton, where his studio transcended into a sanctuary visualising black queer self-expression.

A prominent figure in the Black British art scene, Fani-Kayode’s staged and crafted portraits playfully beckoning the viewer to embrace new possibilities of the self. The Studio – Staging Desire is the culmination of meticulous research into the artist’s archives, presenting never-before-seen works.

The studio enabled Fani-Kayode to live, be free, find love and express himself amongst London’s fluid, racial multiverse. With an emphasis on gesture, pose and a sense of longing the photographs he produced reveal a cosmos of signs and symbols to understand the dynamics of desire.

His transgressive and radical vision broke through boundaries of art history and Yoruba spirituality. These photographs reveal what it meant for Fani-Kayode to negotiate the status of ‘outsider’, turning this into the generative force that has defined the artist’s practice.

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

Untitled, 1988

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Untitled, 1988

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Untitled, 1988

Untitled, 1989

about the artist

Rotimi Fani-Kayode

Rotimi Fani-Kayode (born 1955, Lagos, Nigeria – died 1989, London, UK) is a widely recognised and seminal figure in contemporary art. At the core of his practice is a critical emphasis on the cultural politics of difference. 

Fani-Kayode was born into a prominent Yoruba family before moving to England following the 1966 outbreak of civil war in Nigeria. He studied at Georgetown University and the Pratt Institute in the USA, before settling permanently in London in 1983 where he lived and worked until his early death from a short and illness on 21 December 1989.

His photographs have been exhibited internationally since 1985, with numerous solo and group exhibitions. In 2003, his work featured in the African Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale, and today his works are represented in major public and private collectors. Many of Fani-Kayode’s photographs were created in collaboration with his late partner Alex Hirst, collected in the posthumous publication Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Alex Hirst: Photographs (1996). Alongside his practice as an artist, Fani-Kayode became a founding signatory and one of the first chairs of Autograph, London.

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EVENTS

A BSL response

Thu 5 Dec 6:30pm
Artist Chisato Minamimura will provide a British Sign Language introduction and response to the exhibition

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DIGITAL CONTENT

Online gallery

View our online gallery of Rotimi Fani-Kayode's photography

View gallery

Rotimi Fani-Kayode City Gent, 1988

Collection highlight examining the politics of desire and the black male body

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Belief, Faith and Spirit in Creative Practice

Evan Ifekoya reflects on the photographic work of Rotimi Fani-Kayode

Read blog post | 8 min read

Rotimi Fani-Kayode Umbrella, 1987

Collection highlight of Fani-Kayode's personal exploration of desire, diaspora and visibility

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Black Queer Erotica in the Archive

Jason Okundaye on the significance of queer erotica in the archives of Black cultural memory

Read blog post | 4 min read

Ajamu, Umbrella, 2023

Ajamu's first self-portrait in more than a decade responds to the legacy of Fani-Kayode

View artist commission

YOUR VISIT

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Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.

SAFETY MEASURES

Accessible VEnue

Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.

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Step free

Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.

also coming up at Autograph

Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos

The first exhibition of these remarkable portraits capturing the rich style and joyous spirit of Lagos in the 1970s.

Find out more

exhibition supported by

Banner image: Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled, 1988. © Rotimi Fani- Kayode. Courtesy of Autograph, London

Exhibition preview: All images © Rotimi Fani-Kayode and courtesy Autograph, London. 1) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled, 1988.  2) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled, 1988. 3) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled, 1988. 4) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Untitled, 1989.

Images on page: 1) Sunil Gupta, Portrait of Rotimi Fani-Kayode. © and courtesy Sunil Gutpa. 2) Autograph, London. Photograph by Zoë Maxwell. 3) Abi Morocco Photos, Aina Street, Shogunle, Lagos [detail], 1979. Courtesy Lagos Studio Archives. © Abi Morocco Photos.