Photographer, ethnologist, and babalawo Pierre Fátúmbí Verger (1902, Paris–1996, Salvador de Bahia) studied the relationships between cultures of the African diaspora and those of West Africa. In 1948, during an eight-day trip through Suriname, Verger made 257 photographs that today are kept in the Pierre Verger Foundation in Salvador da Bahia. How do these photographs relate both to the greater archive of images made in Suriname and also to Pierre Verger’s life’s work? And what does it mean for these images to be shown and seen in the context of contemporary art?
This publication features the entire suite of images, and contextualising texts that focus on the images, what they depict, but also on the work of Pierre Verger and his particular artistic position within the context of the African diaspora.
$55