Dignity in view – Photographs by Angèle Etoundi Essamba

The works of Cameroonian-Dutch photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba are a striking homage to the strength, beauty, and dignity of Black women. With an empathetic, respectful eye, she breaks down stereotypical narratives and creates space for new self-images. Her portraits are bold counter-narratives – they demonstrate pride, strength, and individuality, giving her protagonists visibility and a voice.

Essamba's work is deeply personal yet universal. She draws on African roots, cultural encounters, and the pulse of the present—and transforms all of this into a visual language of self-confidence. Her images touch, empower, and transform our perspective.

This collection features selected works by one of the most important photographers on the African continent – powerful, poetic, and deeply human.

What is the collection about
Angèle Etoundi Essamba on her work:

"My photographic work begins with a gaze, a way of seeing the other that is tender, dignified, and empowering."

A look that creates trust, liberates the body and elevates the spirit.

I draw on my African heritage, a personal journey, my encounters with other cultures, and the pulse of the contemporary world. These influences shape a visual language based on exchange and experience.

At the center of my work is the Black woman. She is a constant source of inspiration—the giver of life, the guardian of tradition, and the bearer of memory. The figure of the Black woman is explored in all her depth—gestures, silences, emotions, and power.

I portray women from everyday life: family and friends. Each of them carries her own light, her own truth within her.

My photographs break stereotypes that have too often reduced women to passivity, subservience, or exoticism. Instead, they offer a bold counter-narrative—one that affirms pride, resilience, awareness, and strength. Photography becomes a space of redefinition, where Black women reclaim their image and rewrite their stories."

When Angèle Etoundi Essamba was born in Douala, Cameroon, in 1962, one of the most unlikely scenarios was that she would become one of the most important photographers in her country and the African continent. Yet she overcame all odds and never lost faith in herself.

Today, Angèle Etoundi Essamba is known and appreciated not only in Cameroon. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has purchased some of her works. In 2026, the Dutch Museum of Photography in Rotterdam will honor her with a retrospective.

Although Angèle Etoundi Essamba attended the Dutch School of Professional Photography, she is self-taught in terms of her artistic development. She masters many styles. Some works are reminiscent of works by Man Ray or Robert Mapplethorpe, others are in the tradition of humanist
Photography embodies values such as equality, equal rights, dignity, solidarity, and individuality. In other works, she uses a new, striking form of image montage to visualize content.

“Angèle Etoundi Essamba breaks with the stereotypes
depictions of Africa as a continent torn apart by famine, epidemics, and wars and instead celebrates its cultural richness and diversity.” (1)

Angèle Etoundi Essamba belongs to a new generation of African artists. They are proud of their cultural heritage and are transforming it into a modern world. It is thanks to artists like her that we can finally leave behind our Eurocentric view of the African continent and see Africa, its culture, and its people as they really are: strong, confident, creative, full of beauty and diversity, and incredibly enriching.

(1)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angèle_Etoundi_Essamba

https://www.essamba-art.com

1962 Born in Douala/Cameroon

1968 Move and school time in Paris/France

In the early 1980s she moved to Amsterdam / Netherlands and began her studies at the Nederlandse Fotovakschool (Dutch School for Professional Photography) in Amsterdam

Since 1985 working as a freelance artist
Her work has been published in numerous publications, including:
Everything is Connected (2025),
Renaissance (2019),
Daughters of Life (2018),
Strength & Pride (2016),
Invisible, African Women in Action (2015),
Women of the Water (2013),
Black & Red Beyond Color (2012),
Desvelos (2011),
Africa See You, See Me (2011),
As It Is (2010),
I-dentity - Eye-dentity (2010),
Africa Rising (2010),
Voiles & Dévoilements (2008),
Dialogues (2006),
La Metamorphose du Sublime (2003),
Blacks (2001),
Symbols (1999),
Contrasts (1995), and Passion (1989).

Solo exhibitions:
2024
• Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Roma (Italy)
• BMO, Toronto (Canada)

2023
• Doyle Wham Gallery, London (UK)

2022
• Montague Contemporary, New York
• National Photo Museum, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
• Les Arts du Soleil Gallery, Geneva

2018
• MB Hotel Ganvié, Ganvié (Benin)
• Fondation Claudine TALON, Cotonou (Benin)
• Museum Five Continents, Munich (Germany)

2017
• Musée de l'Eau, Pont en Royans (France)
• ACP Culture, Brussels (Belgium)

2016
• Musée Théodore Monod, Dakar (Sénégal)

2015
• AUC-ECA Conference Center, Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia)
• Pavillon de l'Eau, Paris (France)
• African Union, Addis-Ababa (Ethiopia)

2014
• Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Paris(France)
• Orangerie du Sénat, Paris (France)
• Institut Français, Cotonou (Bénin)
• Africa Museum, Berg en Dal (The Netherlands)
• Hotel Hilton Transcorp, Abuja (Nigeria)

2013
• Galeria Arte Contemporana Benasque, Huesca (Spain)
• Art & Auctions, Essen (Germany)

2012
• Li-Space gallery, Beijing (China)

2011
• La Ciudadela, Pamplona (Spain)
• National Museum, Nairobi (Kenya)
• Fototeca de Cuba, Havana(Cuba)
• Hospitals, Würzburg (Germany)
• Fundacio Caja Rural, Hueva (Spain)

2010
• Fundação Cultural Palmares, Brasilia DF ( Brasil)
• Stopera Square, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
• Touring exhibition in Bogotá, Townhall Cali, Quibdo (Colombia)
• Street exhibition from Guggenheim Museum until the Euskalduna Palace, Bilbao (Spain)
• Street exhibition, La Feria de Valencia, Valencia (Spain)

2009
• TEA, Tenerife Esp. de las Artes, Tenerife (Spain)
• Territories of Seville (Spain)
• AFD (Agence Française de Développement), Paris (France)

2008
• Musée dapper, Paris (France)
• Photo España, Annta Gallery, Madrid (Spain)
• Casa Africa, Las Palmas (Spain)
• Center d'Art, Fond. Blachere, Apt (France)

2007
• Contemporary Art Museum, Puebla de Cazalla (Spain)
• El Museo de la Universidad de Alicante (MUA), Alicante (Spain)
• Kulturhuset, Stockholm (Sweden)
• Circulos de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Madrid (Spain)
• Sasol Art Museum, Stellenbosch (South Africa)

2006
• Gallery in Focus Photography, Cologne (Germany)
• UNESCO, Paris (France)

2005
• Delta Lloyd, Mondriaan Toren, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

2004
• Museet For Photo Art, Odense (Denmark)
• Galeria Safia, Barcelona (Spain)
• Galeria Marktschlösschen, Halle (Germany)

2003
• Musée National du Cameroun, Yaounde (Cameroon)
• Moritzburg Castle Museum, Zeitz (Germany)
• World Trade Center, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

2002
• Goethe – Cameroon Institute, Yaounde (Cameroon)

2001
• Museum of Modern Art Arnhem (The Netherlands)
• Doual'Art, Douala (Cameroon)

2000
• Noorderlicht Photography, Leeuwarden (The Netherlands)

1999
• Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn (The Netherlands)
• Institut Français, Cologne (Germany)

1998
• IFAL – Instituto Francés de America Latina, Mexico (Mexico)
• Michaelis Collection, Cape Town (South Africa)

1997
• Indigo Galleries Inc., Boca Raton (USA)

1996
• Indigo Galleries INC., Boca Raton (USA)

1995
• Omni Gallery - Uniondale, New York (USA)

1991
• University of Bremen, Bremen (Germany)

1990
• Melkweg Photo Gallery, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

1989
• Focus Gallery, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

1987
• Studio Ethel, Paris (France)

1985
• Maison Descartes, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)