About the Ivorian photographer Ananias Leki DAGO (b.1970, in Abidjan)

Ananias Leki DAGO is a graduate of the Institut National Supérieur de l'Action et de l'Animation Culturelle in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. During a period of exile living in Europe, resulting from political unrest in his native Côte d'Ivoire, he worked for magazines such as Africultures and Regards. From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Official Photographer for the Marché des arts et du spectacle africains (MASA), based in Abidjan. In 2019, he represented the Côte d'Ivoire at the Biennale di Venezia, in Venice, Italy, participating in the exhibit 'Ivory Coast: The Open Shadows of Memory'. Ananias Leki DAGO is the founder of the first international photography festival in Abidjan, Les Rencontres du Sud, and restorer of the negatives of Paul Kodjo - the 'Father of Ivorian photography'. To date he fhas published five publications.

Photo books by Ananias Leki DAGO

  • 'Ananias Leki Dago, photographe' (2003)
    'Shebeen Blues: The Wheel is Still in Spin' (2010)
    'Mabati' (2013)
    'La Nawa' (2016)
    'Rainy Days Abidjan' (2019)

read more


The b/w images taken with a Leica by the Ivorian photographer Ananias Léki DAGO for the out-of-print book 'Shebeen Blues. The Wheel is still in Spin' are fed by lines; Bottles, billiard cues, excised body fragments, hands linger; Shadows deepen, stand out
58,00 € * Weight 0.6 kg
Awards
  • 2004: Distinction, Kodak Prize of Critical Photography, Paris, France
    2009: First Prize, PhotoAfrica context, Tarifa, Spain
Exhibitions

The photographs by Ananias Leki DAGO have been exhibited in museums and cultural spaces such as the Centre Pompidou and the Musée de l’Histoire de l'Immigration in Paris, France; Fondation Donwahi in Abidjan; the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden; the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Biennale of Contemporary African Art (Dak'Art) in Dakar, Senegal. They are part of the permanent collections of institutions such as the Fundació Vila Casas in Barcelona, Spain; the Fondation Sindika Dokolo in Luanda, Angola; the Harlem Studio Museum in New York, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Musée du Quai Branly and the Galeries Photo Fnac in Paris, France, as well as various international private collections.