- Akintunde Akinleye, Thami Mnyele Foundation, Amsterdam 2010. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Second year students met with Akintunde Akinleye in Amsterdam a week prior to the Symposium. We started the day at the Stadelijk Museum before heading to the studio where he was temporarily based while staying in the Netherlands.
Akin won the prestigious World Press Photo prize in 2006 for a photograph he took for the Reuters news agency. The image gained immediate international attention – A scene of devastation in Nigeria caused by a gas-line explosion; an elderly man standing in the foreground holding a bucket of water, trying to clear his eyes from the thick smoke around him.
He was in the Netherlands taking part in a residency program at the Thami Mnyele Foundation working on a new series of work. Originally planning to stay the full 3 months of the residency, Akin would be leaving Amsterdam early to Nigeria in order to document the elections that were getting underway at home.
At the Studio. Clockwise: Akin Akinleye, Ian de Ruiter, Lorelinde Verhees, Emy de Rooij, Thomas I'Anson. Photo: Erik Hagoort
At his studio over lunch we spoke about his photography, his travels and what our plans were together for the forthcoming symposium. After lunch Akin showed us some of his prints from recent projects around the world.
Akin shows us some prints. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Symposium. Left to Right: Raphael Langmair, Elsbeth Ciesluk, Nelleke Schiere and Akintunde Akinleye. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Symposium. Left to Right: Bas van den Hurk, Theodora Kotsi, Maureen, Remy Habets, Tanya Long, Manuel Eiris. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Symposium. Left to Right: Emy Rooij, Theodora Kotsi, Remy Habets. Photo Erik Hagoort
Symposium. Image from Akin's Presentation. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Symposium. Image from Akin's Presentation. Photo: Erik Hagoort
Read Emy de Rooij’s report on the symposium here.
Read the symposium’s central text by Martha Rosler here.
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