Akinbode Akinbiyi wanted to become a writer. He studied literature in England and Germany. But today, he writes with his camera. His photographs flow out of him like words when he captures unfiltered, everyday life on the streets — from Berlin to Brasília to Bamako. In front of Akinbiyi’s Rolleiflex, all people and motifs are equally important and worth capturing. He does not look for grand monuments or gestures, he does not stage them. He sees the city through the eyes of everyday people, not the 1%. Between the curb and the front of the building, between the marketplace and the crosswalk, he finds what makes you look ahead. Akinbiyi is a pedestrian among pedestrians who pulls you along with him. Having grown up between London and Lagos, Akinbiyi has called Berlin his home since 1991. The time has come for the city to exhibit him in his first solo exhibition in Germany — and the Berlinische Galerie is doing just that as part of its award of the Hannah-Höch-Prize 2024.
The museum is showing 120 photographs from various series, some of which span several decades. Follow Akinbiyi through urban canyons and along sidewalks, immersing yourself in familiar and distant areas. In “Lagos: All Roads”, he traces the development of the growing metropolis in the 1980s, while in “Black Spirituality” he examines the significance of religion for the Brazilian diaspora. The smells of dusty asphalt, street parties, and subway shafts emanate from his pictures, which he captures predominantly in black and white. They are poetic images that have political undertones, as in his series on the African Quarter in Wedding. The photos can be read like stories, full of metaphors and criticism of colonialism and racism.
Text: Laura Storfner / Photos: Akinbode Akinbiyi, Wilton
Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstr.124–128, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Akinbode Akinbiyi: Being, Seeing, Wandering – Hannah-Höch-Prize 2024, until 14.10.2024.
@akinbodeakinbiyi
@berlinischegalerie
