Berlinische Galerie

Akinbode Akinbiyi (*1946 Oxford, England) has won the Hannah Höch Prize for 2024. The photographer and author of global renown, who has lived and worked in Berlin since 1991, wanders the megacities of this world capturing life on the streets. Berlin, Brasília, Durban, Lagos – urban space is his workstation. He experiences it as an “interminal labyrinth” or, as he phrased it in 2009, “a maze of never ending streets that coalesce into uncountable pathways”. Akinbiyi photographs what he observes, predominantly in analogue black-and-white. His pictures are visual metaphors rich in nuance, addressing cultural change and social exclusion but also the political, social and architectural impact of colonialism. In these images, he conveys a world view that shuns stereotyping and depicts without discrimination.

Featuring some 120 photographs drawn from several series – two of these on show in Germany for the first time – the exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie offers insights into an œuvre covering five decades. This first solo show for a German art museum is the result of close collaboration with the artist.

Akinbode Akinbiyi understands photography as a “writing with light”. His images are not planned. Instead he trusts to serendipity, trapping the moment with the lens of his analogue Rolleiflex. Diagonal, shifting perspectives highlight the mode of genesis, set to the rhythm of a walker moving through the city. The frame is defined by the solid square of a medium format. The atmosphere is dense: urban energy, smells and sounds seem to infuse the visual record. At the same time, these photographs are richly layered with poetry and themes; they invite us to read them, to untangle those compact layers. Akinbiyi selects from these individual shots to arrange his series, some of which evolve over decades.

Works from seven of those series are on show at the Berlinische Galerie. Texts about each series, written and spoken by Akinbode Akinbiyi himself, can be accessed at listening points or via QR codes. Visitors can also use the photo booth to take a selfie. On the print-out, along with their self-portrait, they will find a random choice of three photographs by the artist. Laid out on four display tables are not only publications by Akinbode Akinbiyi but also photobooks from his collection, authored by well-known photographers. They indicate Akinbiyi’s sources of inspiration and reveal his own explorations of camera composition.