George Osodiis
*The birth of George Osodiis is celebrated on this date in 1974. He is a Black African photographer.
George Osodi is from Lagos, Nigeria, and works there. He studied Business Administration at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos before working as a photojournalist for the Comet Newspaper in Lagos from 1999- 2001. He joined the Associated Press News Agency in Lagos from 2001-2008. Since 2002, his work has been exhibited and collected around the world.
Osodi produces pictures whose anonymous or fictional subjects reveal dissonance with their surroundings, thereby examining human consequences of broader political phenomena. His photographs range between photojournalism and artistic documentary, and he has worked on various photography projects globally, with his results exhibited in several Museums. Examples are institutional art spaces, such as Kassel, Germany, 2007, and a participant in the 2015 Venice Architectural Biennale as part of the Canadian Pavilion.
In 2004, he won first prize in the Fuji Africa Photographer of the Year contest, the Sony World Photography Award in 2009, and was on a jury at the World Press Photo competition in 2016. Osodi's works are in the collections of the Smithsonian, Newark Museum U.S.A, the National Museum of Greece, Museumslandscha Hessen Kassel in Germany, Modena Museum Italy, ADF collection in Paris, Ford Foundation Lagos Nigeria, and the Martin Margulies Collection, Miami, U.S.A.
Osodi is the author of a photography book, "Delta Nigeria - The Rape of Paradise." He has also held talks at various Museums and institutions globally, including Columbia University, New York U.S.A, Indianapolis University U.S.A, University of Wales, Newport, UK, and Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria.
Also, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway, and the Forum Stadtpark Symposium, Graz, Austria, in 2009. The EMET, Athens, Greece, 2010; and the International Slavery Museum Liverpool. Osodi employs the traditions of photojournalism to convey narratives. His photographs range between photojournalism and artistic documentary, covering topics from Nigerian monarchs through to injustices occurring in the Niger Delta over its natural resources. Osodi belongs to a generation of photographers who want to represent their country from a Nigerian perspective; authorship is central to his practice.
