For decades, the peripatetic England-born photographer and writer Akinbode Akinbiyi has been pacing the megacities of the world, documenting the lives of people caught up in these vast urban spaces.
On current estimates there are 34 megacities on the planet (populations of more than 10 million), but the UN projects that there will be more than 43 by 2050. What interests Akinbiyi are the social realities of those living on the streets of these cities, the ebb and flow of their daily existence as they navigate the brutal, hard realities of life in a global metropolis.
São Paulo, Lagos, Johannesburg, London – Akinbiyi, who has lived in Berlin since the 90s, has visited many of these sprawling cities, always carrying his Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera. His upcoming Being, Seeing, Wandering features over 130 works, with a section of the exhibition dedicated to his ongoing-black and-white African Quarter series.
Based in Berlin’s Wedding district, where many of the streets are named after German colonies and colonialists, Akinbiyi began exploring the relationship between these street names and the contemporary realities of the countries they represent, delving into their political and economic challenges.
This year, Akinbiyi will be awarded Berlin’s prestigious Hannah Höch Prize (worth €80,000), an accolade that puts the spotlight on the career of an artist who has dedicated much of his focus and time to Berlin. No one is more deserving of it.
- Being, Seeing, Wandering, Berlinische Galerie, Jun 8-Oct 14, details
