Artist Category: Exhibited

Known for his self-portraits in which he inhabits a vibrant array of personas, Cameroonian-Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso examines African identities and histories through costume and impersonation, emphasizing self-representation as a locus of empowerment. Since the early 1970s, Fosso has explored archetypal figures from Africa and beyond, embodying characters in varied series in which the artist constructs and deconstructs personae both imagined and historical. In this way, the artist both celebrates and questions notions of African identity and takes an active stance in the dynamics of viewership on a global stage.

Fosso was born in Cameroon to Nigerian parents, and was raised in Afikpo, Nigeria, before fleeing unrest in the region in 1972 following the Nigerian Civil War. Settling in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, the artist opened his own photo portrait studio at just thirteen years old after spending a year as an apprentice. A key element for success as a studio photographer at that time was expediency, and Fosso’s clientele demanded a quick turnaround for their photographs. In an effort to finish rolls of film so they could be processed at the end of each day’s work, the artist would take irreverent and off-the-cuff self-portraits, sparking a practice that would continue for the rest of his career.

The playful manner in which Fosso constructs his costumes and sets belies a deeper examination of the histories of colonial rule across Africa, and of the construction of cultural identity, as well as notions of masculinity and gender at large. In his series African Spirits, the artist recreates in black-and-white the visages of historic activist figures such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Haile Selassie, Angela Davis, and Malcolm X, going as far as mirroring poses from their most iconic images. In his Tati series, Fosso dons his costumes with ironic flair, sending up kings, middle-class women, and pirates alike in vibrant, full-color photographs. Through satire, the artist addresses vital questions around the commodification of Africa, employing the visual language of Africa’s distinct history of studio photography to great effect. The practice of self-depiction locates Fosso within a canon of artists who utilize self-portraiture as a method of locating themselves within the art-historical canon as subjects, makers, and spectators all at once.

Works by Fosso are held in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; the Tate Modern, London, England; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, among others.

Alanna Fields is a mixed-media artist and archivist whose work both deconstructs and reconstructs Black queer memory and history through a multidisciplinary engagement with photographic archives.
Fields’ work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at Paris Photo, Art Basel Miami, Felix Art Fair LA, and Expo Chicago. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at The Brooklyn Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Museum, The High Museum of Art, The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling, and The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Art. She has presented solo exhibitions at The Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art and Baxter Street Camera Club of NY and participated in group exhibitions at Yossi Milo Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Latchkey Gallery, Fragment Gallery, Residency Art Gallery, David Castillo Gallery, and the Silver Eye Center for Photography, among others.

Fields received her MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute and has given lectures on her work at the Aperture Foundation, Light Work, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Parsons’ New School, Syracuse University, and Stanford University. Fields is a Gordon Parks Foundation Scholar and Pollock Krasner Foundation grant recipient who has participated in residencies at Silver Arts Projects, Light Work, Baxter St. CCNY, Fountainhead Arts, and TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image, among others. Her work has been commissioned by and featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, Aperture Magazine, and FOAM Magazine. In 2025, Fields released her first monograph “Unveiling” which spans her work on Black queer archives.

Arlina Cai is a Brooklyn-based artist whose artwork reflects an unseen, unspoken inner world – a space of mystery, truth, and shared humanity. Through painting, she explores vulnerability, connection, and the quiet journey toward wholeness.

Yagazie Emezi is a multidisciplinary artist in photography, textile and sculpture focused on unearthing global patterns of inequity from an indigenous point of view. Her practice is informed by her extensive background in photojournalism covering global issues around corruption, environmental failure, and the extension of colonial policies into current international relations. Yagazie’s self-portraiture works are rooted in stories of identity and cultural preservation, integrating traditional motifs and practices with contemporary artistic techniques.

She is a recipient of the 2018 inaugural Creative Bursary Award from Getty Images and a 2018 grant from the U.S Consulate General in Lagos for her photographs addressing the reality of sexual violence against women and the vulnerable young in Nigeria. Yagazie was among the 2019 inaugural artists selected for Kehinde Wiley’s art residency at Black Rock, Senegal, was 2019 nominee of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and the first black African woman to photograph for National Geographic Magazine. In 2020, she was awarded The National Geographic Storytelling Grant to complete ‘Another Tale By Moonlight’. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Contemporary African Photography Prize and the German Peace Prize for Photography. Yagazie has exhibited her works around the world in various galleries and museums including an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, ‘New Photography’ 2023.

Bre Andy is a figurative oil painter exploring intimacy, sexuality, domesticity, and self-observation through portraiture and still life. Her introspective work draws from personal experiences, inspired by the day-to-day, ephemeral moments that capture the essence of womanhood. Through depictions of private scenes—like undressing, gazing into a mirror, or lounging in comfort—Bre opens a dialogue about the beauty of intimacy and the complexity of vulnerability, inspiring viewers to embrace these aspects within themselves. Her tightly cropped compositions often focus on intricate details of the body, giving the paintings a voyeuristic quality. Yet, through soft, cohesive tones and delicate brushwork, she contrasts the subtly provocative nature of her subjects with an underlying sense of warmth and tenderness.