Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou is one of the pre-eminent photographers of the Republic of Benin. Born in Porto-Novo in 1965, he was trained by his father, the world-renowned photographer Joseph Moise Agbodjelou (1912-2000). Leonce’s ongoing portraiture project, 'Citizens of Porto-Novo,' captures the people of Benin’s capital. Using a daylight studio and a medium format film, the artist interprets the experience of a generation caught between tradition and progress.
Leonce is the founder and director of the first photographic school in Benin and has recently been appointed president of the Photographer's Association of Porto-Novo. His work has been exhibited at Fotografiska Shanghai, Saatchi Gallery London, Seattle Art Museum, Fowler Museum Los Angeles, Brooklyn Museum New York, Vitra Museum Basel, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel & Camden Arts Centre, London, among others.
Acquisitions have been made by the National Gallery of Canada, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow and Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.