Nii Obodai
Francis Nii Obodai Provençal (b.1963) is a Ghanaian photographer based in Accra, Ghana and Maputo, Mozambique. Throughout his career, Obodai has documented the diversity of the world through photography, audio and text. He is particularly proud to record Africa and celebrate the unseen and alluring perspectives of the continent. Obodai’s work mainly explores urban and rural culture, while capturing the dynamic reality of our environment. He relishes telling stories about the people he meets and has a compelling interest in the past, recounted through environmental and oral histories. He regards his visual practice as essential, illustrating the relationship humanity with the environment.
In 1998 he established Nuku Café in Accra, a vibrant space for contemporary artists committed to a socially- and politically-conscious practice. It has evolved into Nuku Studio, which engages in collaborative academic research projects and organises an annual programme of workshops developing photographic and visual communication skills.
Obodai’s work has been has been exhibited at the Addis Ababa Festival (Ethiopia), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA), Bamako Encounters (Bamako, Mali), Alliance Française (Accra, Ghana), Whitworth Art Gallery (Manchester, UK) The Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (Mozambique) and Moesegaard Museum (Aarhus, Denmark).
Image: Nii-Obodai © Paul-Murphy