Annotated Bibliography #4

While reading about and looking at the photography of Samuel Fosso, I have also assigned readings and viewings of Frantz Fanon’s ideas regarding the black body and gender. Fanon, as you learn by watching Isaac Julien’s film and reading “Algeria Unveiled,” was influenced by his psychiatric practice doctoring patients who “lost” it during the Algerian war for independence—a seven-year struggle against French colonial occupation.

My intention in introducing you to such theoretical work is to have you begin thinking about the intersectionality of race and gender as you begin to analyze Fosso’s self-portraits.

Thus far, we have mostly studied the work of male photographers. Soon you will be introduced to women photographers. Firstly, however, you will need to make sense of Fosso’s transformation of his body through performance. (Stuart Hall has famously commented that Fosso’s photography undermines any notion of a stable identity.) Fosso breaks gender boundaries, models a trans-pan-African sensibility, and challenges heteronormativity with his photography. His work is departs radically from—while still remaining quite loyal to—the West African studio tradition of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé.

Please also think about the discussion we’ve had concerning documentary and studio photography as you look at Fosso’s photographs. As I mentioned in my last email to you all, the work we will be looking at from here on out will challenge you by breaking photographic genre boundaries, as well as commenting socially upon what it means to photograph while black. Don’t forget to comment on your peers’ annotated bibliographies, and I look forward to reading your bibliographies on Fosso’s work. I request that you reference Fanon in your inference paragraphs. My emailed grades and comments on your work will follow next week’s postings.