A book, ‘African Photographer J. A. Green: Reimagining the Indigenous and the Colonial’ featuring photography works of Jonathan Adagogo Green a.k.a. J. A. Green, will be presented and launched in Port Harcourt.
Professor Ememritus Ebiegberi Alagoa, in a statement said, “The editors of this book on Green – Professors Martha G. Anderson and Lisa Aronson and the contributors, Emeritus Professor E.J. Alagoa, Tam Fiofori and Christraud M. Geary – have in this book uncovered 350 of Green’s images in archives (in Britain and the U.S.A.) publications and even private albums in Nigeria and abroad that celebrate the indigenous and the colonial during Green’s career as a professional photographer.
“This landmark book unifies these dispersed photographic images of Jonathan Adagogo Green and presents a history of the photographer and the area and times in which he worked.”
Green studied photography in Sierra Leone and then established a studio in Bonny and became one of the most prolific and accomplished indigenous photographers to be active in West Africa.
He is renowned for his photographs showing everyday and ritual life including women making handicrafts, iron workers and weddings; as well as commerce and buildings; both administrative and religious.
His work covered a wide range of themes including portraiture of the British colonial officials, European merchants and, prominent chiefs and elites and their families, particularly in Bonny, Kalabari, Opobo and Okrika.
Some of his iconic photographs such as that of Oba Ovonramwen in 1897, the British hulk and war canoes were published on platforms around the world including the London Illustrated News and other European publications. A number of his works are in the Bonhams collection.
The event will take place on March 1st, 2018 at the Hotel Presidential at a ceremony organized by the group, Onyoma Research.
