Imagining Ivorian Independence: The Photographic Archive of Paul Kodjo   

Renowned as the “father of Ivorian photography, Paul Kodjo (1939-2021) captured the first decades of independence in Ivory Coast in his photographic archive, which features images of young women and men as they navigated everyday life in the capital city of Abidjan, local fashion, nightlife, and street culture. Kodjo’s archive also includes clippings, correspondence, stills from his photoromans (comics that use photographs in lieu of illustrations) and journalistic work documenting the travels of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of Ivory Coast. The Kodjo archive significantly contributes to our understanding of Ivorian history and culture. Kodjo’s photographs illustrate the impact of the economic boom on ordinary Ivorians and highlight the shifting social and gender norms of the period. This collection represents a society in flux, negotiating the tensions between local traditions and cosmopolitan modernities. In light of the 1980s economic downturn, Ivorians today harbor considerable nostalgia for the optimism of the independence era. Few, however, have engaged with its photographic legacy. Periods of social and political unrest have caused many Ivorian archives and cultural institutions to have been either defunded or destroyed. By digitizing the Kodjo archive and making it available to all Ivorians—both at home and throughout the diaspora—this team hopes not only to contribute to the reconstruction of Ivorian collective memory, but also to ongoing projects for national reconciliation.