Skip to main content
African Photographer J. A. Green: Reimagining the Indigenous and the Colonial (African Expressive Cultures)

African Photographer J. A. Green: Reimagining the Indigenous and the Colonial (African Expressive Cultures)

Current price: $40.00
Publication Date: October 16th, 2017
Publisher:
Indiana University Press
ISBN:
9780253028952
Pages:
400

Description

J. A. Green (1873-1905) was one of the most prolific and accomplished indigenous photographers to be active in West Africa. This beautiful book celebrates Green's photographs and opens a new chapter in the early photographic history of Africa. Soon after photography reached the west coast of Africa in the 1840s, the technology and the resultant images were disseminated widely, appealing to African elites, European residents, and travelers to the region. Responding to the need for more photographs, expatriate and indigenous photographers began working along the coasts, particularly in major harbor towns. Green, whose identity remained hidden behind his English surname, maintained a photography business in Bonny along the Niger Delta. His work covered a wide range of themes including portraiture, scenes of daily and ritual life, commerce, and building. Martha G. Anderson, Lisa Aronson, and the contributors have uncovered 350 of Green's images in archives, publications, and even albums that celebrated colonial achievements. This landmark book unifies these dispersed images and presents a history of the photographer and the area in which he worked.

About the Author

Martha G. Anderson is Professor Emerita of the School of Art and Design at New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University. Lisa Aronson is Emeritus Professor of the Department of Art History at Skidmore College.