Ananias Leki Dago

CV

Ananias Leki Dago - photographer

1970, Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
Lives and works in Parijs

Education
Institut National Supérieur de l'Action et de l'Animation Culturelle in  Abidjan.

Solo Exhibitions
2009    
Shebeen Blues, t Goethe-Institut of Johannesburg, South Africa

2006
Blanc-Mesnil Noirs,  Christian Boltanski Gallery, Forum de Blanc-Mesnil, France.

2005
Noirs Lumières (Black Lights) Christian Boltanski Gallery, Forum de
Blanc-Mesnil, France.

Group Exhibitions
2008    
Show, Johannesbourg Art Fair, South Africa
Flow, Studio Museum in Harlem, New-York

2007
Bamako en Croix,City Hall of San Francisco, organized by the Museum of
African Diasporas ( MoAD ) of San Francisco

2006    
Dynamics of Urban Culture,IX biennal of La Havana, Cuba.

2005    
Labo Photo:  6 African photographers were invited in the Seine-Saint-Denis Department, France (North-East District next to Paris).Worked on Africans in the city of Blanc-Mesnil. His work was presented at the XI African Encounters of Photography (Rencontres Africaines de la photographie) in Bamako, Mali.

2004    
Africa Remix: Museum Kunst Palast de Düsseldorf (2004), Hayward Gallery in London,  Georges Pompidou Center in Paris (2005), Mori Art Museum in Tokyo (2006) and Johannesburg, South Africa (2007).

Le Ports d’Afrique  (The Ports of Africa) 35th edition of the Rencontres d'Arles (Arles Encounters) in France.

Rites sacrés / Rites profanes (Sacred rites / Secular Rites) V African Encounters of Photography (Rencontres Africaines de la photographie) in Bamako.

2002    
La terre est à nous (The Earth belongs to us), Dak'Art off program, V biennial of African           contemporary art, Kadjinol Station, Dakar, Senegal.

2001    
Art sur Scène (Art on Scene), retrospective of photos from the Marché des Arts et Spectacles Africains (MASA) performances in 1995, 1997 and 1999, French Cultural Center Arthur Rimbaud, Djibouti.

Africas,the Artist and the City, Cultura Contemporània Center of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

9th Rencontres des Aubenades de la Photographie (Aubenades Photography   Encounters), Aubenas, France.

1998  
Dak’art 1998, III biennial of African contemporary art, Dakar, Senegal.

Ja Taa. Prendre l’image III African Encounters of Photography, Bamako, Mali.

1997    
Artefact, Marché des Arts, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

1995    
Sid'Art (AIDS Art), artists from Ivory Coast reacting to AIDS, French Cultural Centre, Abidjan.

1994    
First African Encounters of Photography, Bamako, Mali.

Awards
2009    
First Prize of PhotoAfrica context in Spain with his work Identité?
2007     
Obtained the Bag Factory Residency Programme to work in South Africa during 3 months.
2005   
Scholarship with the Visa pour la Création (Passport for Creation) programme in 2005 organized by AFAA / Afrique en Créations
2004   
Distinction from the Critical Photography French Kodak Price with his work Le  train du Négus (The Negus Train) done in Djibouti and Ethiopia in 2001.

Collections
Galeries Photo- Fnac, France
Fundacio Villa Casas, Espagne
The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, USA
Foundation Siadika Dokolo, Angola

Residence / Workshops
2007   
Residence in South Africa through the Bag Factory Residency Programme to work on Shebeen’s project                  

2005   
Residency programme in the city of Blanc-Mesnil in the framework of the project L'Afrique en Seine Saint Denis (Africa in the Seine-Saint-Denis Department) at the initiative of L'oeil en Cascade organisation.

2001   
Invited by the French Cultural Center of Djibouti to work of the journey from Djibouti to Ethiopia with the Negus train. Documentary.
Residence in Tripoli, Lebanon, on the occasion of the IX Francophonie (French-speaking communities) Summit, organised by the Inter-governmental Agency for the Francophonie.

2000   
Residence in Lure, France, organised by the Photographic Resources Center.

1998   
Residence in Guadeloupe (French West-Indies) and exhibition at the Guadeloupe Visual Art and Cinema Festival.

1997   
Daro-Daro, international workshop of Plastic Arts, Assinie mafia, Côte d’Ivoire.

Biografie

I’m an African. I’m also a product of urban life. The city has shaped my personality as a photographer. This is reflected upon my photographic approach which focuses on every day-life within an urban context. My photographic writing comes from a personal and free thought process. It offers a different eye or sight on the little things of life.
My relationship to people, objects, smells, which constitute urban landscape, is constantly questioned..
My work, taken as a whole, speaks about travels, wanderings towards the other.

Pers

The Star, september 21st 2007 : Shebeens Blues (South Africa) Libération, 2 august 2006 : Blanc-Mesnil Noirs (France) Africultures, n°63, april – juin 2005 : l’Afrique par sa Corne (France) Regards, n°93, September 2003 : Conakry (France) PhotoNews, n°11, november 2000 : (Germany)