Akinbode Akinbiyi

Akinbode Akinbiyi, born in Oxford, England, to Nigerian parents, has been a freelance photographer since 1977. He also works as a curator. He grew up in England and Lagos, Nigeria. He studied literature and English in Nigeria, Great Britain, and Germany. Akinbode Akinbiyi’s photographic focus is on large, sprawling megacities on the African continent: Lagos, Cairo, Lubumbashi, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Dakar, and Bamako. He also photographs European, North American, and South American cities, most recently São Paulo and, in 2019, Chicago.
His work has been shown at exhibitions and biennials in Frankfurt, Berlin, Dresden, Tokyo, Paris, Philadelphia, Johannesburg, and Havana, among other places, and has been published in various magazines. Akinbode Akinbiyi is co-founder of UMZANZSI, a cultural center in Clermont Township in Durban, South Africa.

During his stay in Los Angeles, Akinbode Akinbiyi will wander and meander the city on foot in order to see and perceive it in his own personal way. In his photographic work, he seeks to go beyond what has already been said, seen, filmed, and told about the city.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 | Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
2023 | Kunstverein Hannover, Hanover
2020 | Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin

Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 | MoMA, New York
2019 | Chicago Architecture Biennial, USA
2017 | documenta 14, Athens and Kassel
2016 | Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA

Selected Prizes and Awards
2024 | Hannah-Höch-Preis, State of Berlin
2021 | Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2016 | Goethe Medal, Goethe-Institut
1987 | Reportage scholarship from STERN magazine for work in the cities of Lagos, Kano, and Dakar