In this series, I set out to revisit the photographic method of the composite portrait, developed around 1878 by Francis Galton.
Born from the rationalist spirit of the Enlightenment, the 19th century saw the rise of racialism in Europe — a pseudo-science that claimed to classify human beings according to biological criteria, confusing scientific progress with the hierarchy of peoples. Photography, then a recent invention perceived as an objective proof, quickly became one of its preferred instruments.
This approach was first applied to define the composite portrait of the “criminal type.” Later, Arthur Batut (1846–1918) proposed using the same process to produce the composite portrait of a family, an ethnicity, or a race. The procedure relied on a specific method of shooting and development, based on the precise superimposition of several portraits of individuals belonging to the same group, in order to reveal their supposedly representative features.
For this project, I also explored the work of early European photographers in Africa at the end of the 19th century, notably Edmond Fortier in West Africa. Their images, circulated in Europe as postcards, bore captions such as “Wolof Type” or “Peul Type,” as one would label local fauna or flora. Combined with the phenomenon of “human zoos,” which were immensely popular in Europe at the time, these representations formed a powerful machine of dehumanization. Through this series, I aim to show that the notion of race — entirely subjective — could never be substantiated through photography. The medium failed as a scientific instrument, yet proved remarkably effective in shaping a particular image of Africa and Africans, and in supporting the colonial narrative. All these pseudo-scientific methods ultimately failed: to prove human difference through photography turned out to be impossible.
Perhaps because, to me, photography does not lie.
For this work, I traveled across Benin to meet its many ethnic groups: the Peul in Tanguiéta in the north, the Somba in Koussou, the Yom in Sapaha, the Dendi in Songo, the Noms and Bariba in Boko near Parakou, the Tofin in Sohava near the Aguégués, the Nago in Pobé near Porto-Novo, and the Fon in Lokozon near Abomey. Working in both digital and analog, I photographed individuals of all ages. Each composite portrait is made from the superimposition of six individual portraits belonging to the same ethnic group.
Thus, The Fon Woman Type results from six photographs overlaid together: “The final image resembles none of them, and all of them at once. From afar, one sees a face; up close, one can read the complexity of their layered identities.”
For this series, I followed the operational procedure of the time: a fabric backdrop mounted on a collapsible frame, an adjustable stool, and a head support to keep the subject still — the eyes serving as the central point of reference.
Where Galton and Batut sought to produce a composite type to classify and rank, I seek to reveal the richness and diversity within each face — transforming a tool of domination into an instrument of reconciliation between memory, identity, and humanity.
PORTRAIT-TYPE
2019
