PHOTOGRAPHER

(Porto Novo, Benin)

born in 1912 (Vedo, Bénin) - died in 1999 (Porto Novo, Benin)

Active in Porto Novo from 1945 to 1994.

In France, when he was drafted into the army Joseph Moïse Agbodjelou learns the basics of photography in 1935.

As sales representative of Kodak in his country, he was President of the Professional Photographers Association of Dahomey (now Benin), they were approximative 10 photographers in the 1950s.

Around 1960, he opened a studio: "France Photo", a nod to the man who taught him to photograph in France. Weddings, funerals, wakes, communions, political ceremonies, cultural and religious, news items and portraits, nearly twenty years of life and history of Benin.

Joseph Moïse Agbojelou finally adopted photography in 1994. He died in 1999 in Porto Novo.

We meet him on the publication of RN18 on Benin (September 1985). Archiv's Agbojelou helded by the family is small because the negatives and prints were given to the people photographed, according to African practice.

[run the slideshow below]