From 19 March 2027, the Nederlands Fotomuseum presents a survey of artist photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba, spanning four decades of her work in photography, alongside text, video and sound.
Angèle Etoundi Essamba (b. 1962), was born in Douala, Cameroon. After her education in France, she moved to the Netherlands to attend the Nederlandse Fotovakschool in Amsterdam where she still lives and works.
At the core of Essamba’s practice is a sustained focus on Black women, exploring identity, presence, and their contribution within contemporary society. Her photography challenges dominant narratives and stereotypical representations, using the act of looking to reclaim the gaze in a medium that originally did not emerge to accommodate Black subjects.
Working across analogue and digital processes, in black and white and colour, Essamba has developed a visual language in which light plays a central role. Her highly personal work presents her subjects as powerful and vulnerable, intimate and monumental, rooted and in motion.
Since her first exhibition in Amsterdam in 1985, Essamba has exhibited internationally. In 2022, she was among the artists representing Cameroon at its first participation in the Venice Biennale.