Samuel Finlak


Samuel Finlak 1958-2023 was a Cameroonian photographer originally from the Yamba village of Bongor, Ngwa, in Northwest Province (now Northwest Region) of Cameroon. For most of his working life he was the resident photographer in Atta Village, Adamawa Region. He died on 8 January 2023.

Early life

Samuel Finlak was born in 1958 at Bongor, Ngwa village in Donga-Mantung department, where he trained as a photographer via a correspondence course.[1]

Career

Having learnt photography in Ngwa, in February 1986 Finlak moved some fifty kilometres to the village of Atta on the Tikar Plain in Adamawa Region, where he established himself as the village photographer and also worked in neighbouring villages such as Songkolong and Somié.

Finlak's work has been exhibited in Yaoundé, Douala and Bamenda, and in the National Portrait Gallery (London). In Joseph Chila and Samuel Finlak: Two Portrait Photographers in Cameroon,[2] which accompanied the London show, Andrew Wilson singles out the joy of the people depicted in Finlak's work; and while there are parallels with other African photographers such as Malick Sidibé, Finlak's style is distinct. Finlak's work has also been discussed by the art historian Graham Clarke.[3] Clarke comments on the power of Finlak's portraits and the compositional skill of the group images.[4]

Exhibitions

Collections

References
  1. Swenson, Ingrid (2005). Joseph Chila and Samuel Finlak: Two Portrait Photographers in Cameroon. London: Peer. p. 5. ISBN 9780953977260.
  2. Swenson, Ingrid (2005). Joseph Chila and Samuel Finlak: Two Portrait Photographers in Cameroon. London: Peer. ISBN 9780953977260.
  3. Clarke, Graham (2018). "'Through a Glass Darkly': Some Thoughts on the Portrait and the Problematics of Meaning". Vestiges: Traces of Record. pp. 38–41. Retrieved 17 October 2020..
  4. Clarke, "Through a Glass Darkly", pp 35–36.
  5. "Cameroon: Faces and places: A photographic exhibition by two Cameroonian photographers", The Virtual Institute of Mambila Studies. Accessed 16 Oct 2020.
  6. Samuel Finlak, National Portrait Gallery.
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