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Curated selection: Ekow Eshun's top photography books

Posted on 09 May 2023

Ekow Eshun – acclaimed writer, curator and author of ‘In the Black Fantastic’ and ‘Africa State of Mind’ – shares his top three picks from our photography list for Photo London 2023, including a powerful social history, and a 'mesmerising' ode to curiosity.

1. Another Country

A social history of post-war Britain through the keen-eyed lens of its documentary photographers. This is a raw and vital book that chronicles the changing identity of the nation decade by decade and almost page by page. There are big themes in play here – race, class, gender, power. But also brilliantly observes moments of joy, mischief, desire, intimacy. All human life – or at least all British life – is here.

Look inside the book

2. Affinities

This is a strange, mesmerising and magical work. A trove of images pulled from the vast archive of the Public Domain Review, assembled into an unbroken sequence of images and associations that unfolds with the intuitive logic of dreams. A wonderful visual testament to the virtues of wonder and curiosity.

Look inside the book

3. Samuel Fosso (Photofile)

Samuel Fosso is one of the great masters of African portraiture. Since the 1970s, he’s crafted a unique oeuvre of self-portraiture, in which he styles himself in front of the camera as a range of popular icons, from Muhammad Ali and Chairman Mao to the first Black Pope. The most intriguing figure in all this is Fosso himself – a trickster, a conjurer, a ceaselessly imaginative visual artist.

Discover the book

From Ekow Eshun

In the Black Fantastic

Published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Hayward Gallery Ekow Eshun
£35.00

Africa State of Mind

Contemporary Photography Reimagines a Continent Ekow Eshun, Lina Iris Viktor
£39.95

Author Interviews

Africa, but not as you know it: Ekow Eshun and the power of photography

Vibrant, urgent, defiant: the photographs in ‘Africa State of Mind’ comprise an important and dazzling riposte to Western representations of Africa. We spoke to author Ekow Eshun about what it means to be African today.
Author Interviews

5 Questions With Ekow Eshun

We catch up with 'In the Black Fantastic' author Ekow Eshun about cosmic paintings, stunning collages, and his wildest dreams for the future of Black art.