By Lucia Billing
The oeuvre of Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso is characterised by a mutation of self and personal identity for the ability to conceptualise the creation of new experiences. His work is particularly reminiscent of Cindy Sherman, they both stretch the limit of the self-portrait through a shifting of the self.
Fosso spent most of his time in the Central African Republic (CAR), as his family had fled Nigeria due to the civil war. It was when he lived in the CAR that he began taking an interest in photography. His early work consisted of him trying on clothes, posing, and sending the pictures to his mother. Later on, however, his work became more performative. He started dressing up characters, or real-life historical figures for his photos.
One of his most notable works, The Chief (who sold Africa to the Colonists), features Fosso sitting on a leopard print chair, his torso covered in jewellery and fur, surrounded by colourful print fabric. The character presented in the work represents an African chief who, during colonial times traded his country and his people for material wealth and Western products. Despite the background of traditional African textiles, beside the chief’s feet are a pair of red leather loafers and a handbag. Furthermore, he holds a bouquet of sunflowers, which are not indigenous to Africa, but have been planted subsequently to colonisation for profit. The (supposedly) intended interpretation of the work stands on its own, Fosso cleverly demonstrates the betrayal of African chiefs who looked the other way in the face of colonialism, in exchange for wealth.
The man pictured in the photograph resembles that of the CAR president Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who ruled the country from 1966 to 1979. Bokassa reached the presidency (as did many African leaders of the time) through a coup d’état. When he took power on the 1st of January 1966, he declared “The hour of justice is at hand. The bourgeoisie is abolished. A new era of equality among all has begun.” Throughout his rule, he attempted to nationalise the CAR’s industries, banned begging and even formed a “morality brigade.” In addition to that, he maintained close relations with Gaddafi (for whom he later converted to Islam in order to secure financial aid) as well with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
In 1976, Bokassa dissolved the state of the CAR, and declared in its place the Central African Empire (CAE), declaring himself the Emperor. A substantial amount of the empire’s budget was spent on the coronation – $20 million (equivalent to $100 million toda) – handcrafted in order to replicate Napoleon’s coronation. Bokassa had invited the likes of Pope Paul VI, Emperor Hirohito, and Mohammed Reza Shah, none of whom attended. In fact, only 600 of the 2,500 invitations produced an appearance.
Bokassa is a comically absurd figure, and his coronation epitomises this reality. He was extremely caught up in attempting to portray himself in an European fashion (a French one, to be more specific). After De Gaulle’s death, he said "I lost my biological father as a child, and now I turned towards my true father, General de Gaulle..." His obsession with France may have been a result of his childhood. His father, a village chief, had decided to go against French orders, and released village hostages. As a result, he was beaten to death by French officers in the town square, subsequently, Bokassa’s mother committed suicide.
Bokassa’s life and the image he projected of himself come to signify a modern version of The Chief in Fosso’s work. It exemplifies Marx’s notion that "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce." Although Bokassa did “sell” the CAR (he supplied France with Uranium for the Cold War) he did not do it for the same reasons as The Chief. It was not a thought-out betrayal that benefited him, yet harmed others; it was a ridiculous, pathetic response driven by an inferiority complex and trauma. It is hard to look at Bokassa as an imposing figure – in contempt of his autocratic impulses. The extent of his self-aggrandizing only renders him even smaller. His Napoleon complex is very fitting, considering his coronation and (barely) five feet tall stature. If one examines his childhood he is reduced even more, as his Francophilia seems to become something tragic.
Fosso’s photograph, which was taken a year after Bokassa died in 1997 does make, in my opinion, a direct allusion to the dictator. Bokassa was inevitably doomed by The Chief in Fosso’s work to become who he was. By selling Africa, not only draining it of resources but also causing people like Bokassa to emerge. The CAE emperor was merely an extreme example of the lineages of rulers of African nations, who due to their adolescence in the colonial and early postcolonial period developed such tendencies.
Despite the excessive jewellery, multiple fabrics and lavish fur that surround The Chief (who sold Africa to the Colonists), the viewer is unable to see him as imposing – or even impressively wealthy. He appears to be just a nouveau riche, and one immediately comes to the realization that the figure does not truly have any power. The chiefs who did trade off their people and resources for wealth did not gain any substantial power, they were still in a losing game. One cannot, when looking at Bokassa on his golden eagle-shaped throne, possibly view him as the monumental figure he is attempting to be.