Born in 1972, Belgium.
Lives and works in Dakar, Senegal.
Fabrice Monteiro is an Agouda, a descendant of Brazilian slaves with Portuguese names. His background is multicultural: he was born in Belgium, grew up in Benin, and now lives and works in Dakar, Senegal. Monteiro worked as a model for around a decade before becoming a photographer in 2007, after meeting New York–based photographer Alfonse Pagano. Photography came naturally to him; as a professional model, he became aware of the complexity of composition, lighting, and posture. Having moved behind the lens, Fabrice Monteiro’s images stand at the intersection of photojournalism and fashion photography.
“The diversity of my origins is my first source of inspiration. Relations between Africa and Europe have constantly fluctuated between attraction and rejection, empowerment and denial, recognition and anger. They have never been indifferent. The history of Afro-European people over the past centuries, which I have inherited in all its complexity, is my main source of inspiration.”
The photographic series The Prophecy began in 2013, when Monteiro returned to Africa after several years of absence and discovered the devastating pollution that had overtaken the continent. The series addresses nine different environmental issues in Senegal, including forest fires, plastic waste, and oil spills, and was later expanded to global concerns around pollution. These themes are personified in images of various figures inspired by West African masquerades and animist traditions. The beautiful yet disturbing figures were created in collaboration with Senegalese fashion designer Doulsy, who designed couture-like costumes made from trash and natural materials.
Fabrice Monteiro’s later series, 8 Mile Wall, explores stereotypical ways in which Africans were—and in some places continue to be—represented. The series was inspired by a conversation he had with his father as a child, when he realized that, as a Black man, the only way to be treated with respect in Europe at the time was to wear a three-piece suit. Despite increasing optimism about Africa’s prospects, Monteiro believes that, in a way, we are still trying to “wear three-piece suits.”
Monteiro offers the following advice to those interested in photography: “I believe that you have to start by looking into yourself—into what concerns you, your anger, your fears, the things you do not understand—in order to find the subjects you are interested in and develop them.” For him, the great strength of photography is that the medium is almost therapeutic.
Collections
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
MEG - Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Iziko Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
MACAAL - Fondation Alliance, Marrakech, Morocco
MuPho, Musée de la photographie, Saint-Louis, Senegal
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
