There is no need to introduce Omar Victor Diop. Like other greats (Samuel Fosso of course, but also Cindy Sherman) before him who have broken race and gender barriers and put identity and self-representation at the center of their work.
The series Being There takes these investigations in a brand new direction. Collaborating with Lee Shulman and his collection of vintage photographs from the Anonymous Project, Omar Victor by inserting himself in pictures from middle America from the 50s and 60s, brings echoes from the 1967 movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Doing so he shows the horrible stubbornness of the race divide that exists in so many societies and which has not gone away. The use of lost photographs reminds also of the very poignant works of another great African artist with home videos: Penny Siopis.
