Rotimi Fani-Kayode

Rotimi Fani-Kayode was a photographer whose carefully staged images explored race, sexuality, spirituality and the politics of representing the Black male body. Born in Lagos and later based in London, he developed a concentrated body of work during the 1980s, often working with his partner and collaborator Alex Hirst. Yoruba cultural reference, diasporic experience and queer desire meet in photographs that resist a single documentary reading.

Fani-Kayode was a founding member and early chair of Autograph, connecting his studio practice to the development of Black British photographic institutions. Autograph records the continuing presence of his work in major museum collections and international exhibitions.