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See five photographs by Rotimi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989) at Serpentine Galleries in the exhibition Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams. Autograph has loaned the works from our collection.
Fani-Kayode's photographs constitute a profound narrative of sexual and cultural difference, seminal in their exploration of the politics of desire, diaspora, displacement, spirituality and the black male body.
Themes of mysticism and ritual permeate Wales Bonner’s exhibition, which explores magical resonances within black cultural and aesthetic practices.
Rotimi Fani-Kayode was born in Lagos, Nigeria to a prominent Yoruba family before moving to England following the 1966 outbreak of civil war in Nigeria. He later 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 unexpected illness on December 21 1989.
During his tragically brief six-year career, Fani-Kayode produced a complex body of photographic work, exploring themes of race, sexuality, spirituality, and the self. His masterfully staged and crafted portraits, sometimes quietly monochromatic and at other times rich in saturated color, stand as powerful, resolutely ambiguous, visual statements. A seminal figure in contemporary art photography, the year 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the artist’s death; at the core of Fani-Kayode’s practice is an important emphasis on the cultural politics of difference.
A prominent figure in the Black British art scene, Fani-Kayode was the founding member and first chairman of Autograph in 1988.
Rotimi Fani-Kayode
A Time for New Dreams is a project by Grace Wales Bonner, curated by Claude Adjil, Curator at Large, Live Programmes, and Joseph Constable, Assistant Exhibitions Curator at Serpentine Galleries
Banner images: 1) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Half Opened Eyes Twins, 1989. 2) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Nothing to Lose XII, from the series Bodies of Experience, 1989.
Page images, from top left: 1) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Every Mother's Son/Children of Suffering, 1989. 2) Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Dan Mask, 1989.
Autograph is a place to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.