Extended Bio and Artist Statement

AJAMU
biography
and
artist
statement
Ajamu by Mike Watson 2013
Bodybuilder in Bra 1990
Artist Biography
Born: Huddersfield, England
Education: Jan Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Lives and works in London
Ajamu is an acclaimed london artist working with
predominately black male portraits, self portraits
and studio based constructed imagery. His work
has been shown in many prestigious galleries, museums and alternative spaces around the world
including: Neuberger Museum (NYC) Tropen Museum (Amsterdam) Neus Gallery (Austria) Schirn
Kunstalle (Germany), Foto Institute (Rotterdam)
,Pinacoteca Do Estado (Sao Paulo) and Guildhall
Art Gallery (London). Work has been published
in a wide variety of publications, critical art journals, and campaign materials and reside in many
private and public collections worldwide. He is
participated in and delivered many photo-related
workshops, lectures and symposiums.
Artist Statement.
Both my artistic practice and my politics emanate from a culture of Otherness. My objective within
fine art photography has been through experimentation and risk taking to extend, transgress and push
contemporary theoretical debates to explore critical issues of representations, identities, race, genders,
desire, pleasure, cultural heritage and community within contemporary Britain.
I predominately work with Black and White large format 10 x 8 camera’s, shoot straight, crop within
the frame and with virtually no re-touching afterwards.Over the last few years, I have been re-visiting
the work of mid 19th and early 20th century photographers, specifically those working with non-silver
techniques and alternative processes such as Platinum/Palladium prints.
What the viewer sees is what I saw when I looked through the viewfinder. The ideas, people, communities, their personal testimonies, experiences, a range of dialogues that can’t be captured on film, however will influence how that will be portrayed along with issues that I choose to engage with are just as
important as the printing, framing and aesthetic quality to the work.
I like to prepare for a studio portrait session much as I would prepare for any other art or community
engagement project. A portrait, like community work, is as much about process as it is about the end
product.
My work involves ongoing engagement with socially engaged photographic practice, inclusion, cultural
heritage and diversity. I see this as a unique approach within the arts and cultural sector.
To contact Ajamu and view additional work and projects, visit
his website at:
www.ajamu-fineartphotography.co.uk
or email: [email protected]
From Circus Master Series (1) 1998
From Circus Master Series (2) 1998
To see Ajamu’s facebook page or follow him on twitter click on
the icons.
Heels 1993
Neck 1994
Self Portrait- Home Studio 1998
Hakeem Kazeem Film Maker 2013
Self-Portrait in Wedding Dress- Image 1 1993
Three Graces 2013
Top Hat 1999
Tonny A- Burlesque Artist 2013
Selected solo exhibitions
Selected publications & catalogues
2013
2012
2009
1999
1995
1994
1994
1994
1992
Cross,Larry.Vibrant Energy,Tree of Life Press, 2008
Weiermar,Peter.Treasures of Gay Art, LLGAG,2008
Smalls,James. Homosexuality and Art, Parkstone Press, 2003
Campany,David. Art and Photography. Phaidon Press,2003
Still,Judith.Mens Bodies, Edinburgh University Press Paragraph 26,2003
Hagiwara,Hiroko. Black-Struggles over Race and Gaze,Mainichi Papers, Tokyo, 2002
Smith Lucie, Edward.Art Tomorrow, Terrail, 2002
Fisher, Judith. Reverberations,Jan van Eyck Academy, 2000
Doy,Gen.Black Visual Culture Modernity and Post modernity, I.B Tauris, 2000
Njami, Simon.Anthology of African Photography, Edition Revue Noir,1999
Calder. Dylan. Anti-Bodies: A Spectacle of Strangeness, Autograph-ABP,1999
Still,Judith and Worton, Michael. Typical Men Exhibition Catalogue, 1999
Bright,Deborah.The Passionate Camera, Routledge,1998
Golding, Sue.The Eight Technologies of Otherness, Routledge,1997
Grennan, Simon. Kissing The Dust Catalogue, 1997
Horne,Peter. Outlooks- Lesbian/Gay Sexuality’s and Visual Culture, Routledge 1996
Cooper,Emmanuel. Fully Exposed: Male Nude in Photography,Routledge,1995
Mercer, Kobena. Black Bodyscapes exhibition catalogue,1995
“Fierce”,Guildhall Art Gallery, London.
“Future Histories”, Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow.
“Familiar Strangers”, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow.
“Anti-Bodies”, Standpoint Gallery, London.
“Ajamu-selected works”, Pinacoteca Do Estado, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“Black Bodyscapes” Aytoun Gallery, Manchester.
“Black Bodyscapes”,Huddersfield Art Gallery,England.
“Black Bodyscapes”,Camerawork, London.
“Erotic Rites”, First Out, London.
Selected group exhibitions
2011
2010
2009
2007
2005
2004
2004
2003 2002 2001 2000
1998 1998
1998
1997
1997
1997
1997
1996
1994
1990
“Queer Self-Portraits Now”, Fred Mann Gallery, London.
“Photoshow”, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York.
“British Subjects”, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York.
“Fellow Travellers”, Salford University, Manchester.
“Identity and Nomadism”, Palazzo delle Papesse,Italy.
“Transformation”, Manchester Museum,England.
“Hidden Histories”, Walsall New Art Gallery,England.
“Phantom of Desire”, Neue Gallery,Austria.
“Odalisque”, Mafuji Gallery, London.
“Men’s Bodies”, University of Nottingham, England.
“Sexmutant”, Nunnery Gallery, London.
“Africa by Itself”, Maison Europeene de la Photographie,Paris.
“The Miniature Museum”, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam.
“Black Nude New Identities”, Tropen Museum, Amsterdam.
“Kissing the Dust”, Oldham Art Gallery,England.
“In Visible Light”, Museum of Modern Art Oxford, England
“Subjects of Desire”, Konstack, Stockholm.
“Transforming the Crown”, Caribbean Cultural Centre,New York.
“Prospect 96”, Schirn Kunstalle,Frankfurt, Germany.
“Strangers in Paradise” , Foto Institute, Rotterdam.
“ Different Circles”, Brixton Art Gallery, Loondon
Articles, reviews, film & radio
Artist in residence
2009
2009
2009
2008
2002
2001
2001
2001
1999
1998
1997
1997
1995
1993
2014
2010
2009
1998
1998
1995
1995
We Live Here, MVS Radio, Amsterdam
In This Our Lives- The Reunion,Topher Campbell (Dir), rukus! Federation
London Liberationists, Museum of London
People, Signs and Resistance: On The Front Line, 198 Gallery, London
Issues 1 – Greenwich University, London, England
Poetics of Provocation, Jan Van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Shit Starter SBC Magazine, USA,Volume Ten, Issue 1
Culture and Camp, Number 73, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Contact Sheet 101, The Light Annual, Lightwork Community Darkroom
The Appropriated Frame - Autograph ABP Photo 98,
Party-Line: Black British Photography Autograph ABP
Kissing The Dust- Interview, Huddersfield Art Gallery
The Homecoming - Topher Campbell (Dir), Arts Council of England
Recontres Au Noir, Arles Photographic Festival, France
Selected talks, presentations & seminars
2014
2013 2009
2009
2004
2002
2002
2001
1995
1995
1992
1993
1992
“Photographing the Black Queer Body”, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
“Queer Artists Speak Out” Brighton Museum
“We Live Here”, Amsterdam Public Library
“The Image in the Global Age???, Goldsmiths University, London
“Portraits and Praxis, Goldsmiths University, London
“Poetics of Provocation” CICES, Dakar Biennale, Senegal,
“Poetics of Provocation” Stedlijk Museum, Amsterdam
“Playing with Bodies” Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, England,
“Cultured Resistance” Black Photography in the UK, Huddersfield Gallery,
“Inciting Desires”, Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, Sao Paulo, Brazil,
“Scene and Heard” Camerawork, London, England,
“The Body Black” Centre of the Rainbow, New York, NY,
“The Critical Decade”, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England
Alice Yard, Trinidad and Tobago
Street Level, Photoworks, Glasgow.
Gallery of Modern Art,Glasgow, Scotland.
Light Work Community Darkroom,Syracuse, New York.
East Moors Correction Centre,Leeds, England.
Art media Centre,Batley, England.
NAFOTO,Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Projects/collaborations
2014
2009
2008
Maud Sulter Project Autograph -ABP, Street Level Photoworks
We Live Here! International homo-lesbian information archive, Amsterdam
Outside Edge, Museum in Docklands, London
Collections
Leslie Lohman Lesbian and Gay Art Museum
Autograph, The Black Photographers Association
Neuberger Museum of Art, NYC
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
Work held in private collections nationally and internationally.
Self-Portrait on Chez Lounge 1998