Ajamu: The Patron Saint of Darkrooms

Autograph is currently home to Ajamu: The Patron Saint of Darkrooms, an exhibition unapologetically celebrating black queer bodies and pleasure as activism.

Ajamu, Aura from the series Black Bodyscapes , 1992. Commissioned by Autograph. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.

For more than 30 years, Ajamu has unapologetically celebrated black queer bodies, the erotic sense and pleasure as activism. Photographic artist, scholar, archive curator and radical sex activist, Ajamu has been at the forefront of gender queer photography, challenging dominant ideas around masculinity, gender, sexuality and representation of black LGBTQ+ people in the UK. Ajamu’s evocative photographs present the lives and experiences of himself and those around him. From charged self-portraits to tender depictions of lovers, spirited images of friends to objects that his sitters use, The Patron Saint of Darkrooms focuses on the community that has fostered an environment embracing the politics of pleasure. Since the 1980s, Ajamu has sought to use sensuality and desire as a creative practice, liberating representations of the black queer body.

Ajamu, Malcom Brower from the series Black Bodyscapes , 1993. Commissioned by Autograph . Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.

Autograph has worked with Ajamu since the early 1990s, and a selection of commissioned works by the artist will be shown for the first time, including Black Bodyscapes, focused on the private sexual realities of black gay men.

Ajamu: The Patron Saint of Darkrooms has been curated by Mark Sealy in association with Bindi Vora.

Ajamu, Power Drill Heels , 2021. Courtesy the artist and Autograph, London.

Ajamu: The Patron Saint of Darkrooms is exhibited at Autograph until 2 September.