translation from the French by Chloe Evans
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou is one of the most dynamic and creative contemporary photographers to be found in the Republic of Benin in West Africa. He was born in 1965 at Porto Novo, the coastal capital of the country near to the border with Nigeria. He acquired much of his initial mastery of photographic skills and knowledge from his father, who was the influential photographer Joseph Moise Agbodjelou (1912–2000). His father had joined the French army in 1935 and learnt his photographic skills in Perpignan in southwestern France. On his return to Dahomey (renamed the Republic of Benin in 1973) after World War II, he worked as a forest ranger but also as an itinerant photographer. In 1960 he opened his France Photo studio in Porto Novo, so named in memory of his service in the France. He worked full time until his retirement...