Renowned Nigerian documentary photographer and filmmakerTam Fiofori, known as Uncle Tam, is dead. The 82-year-old writer, critic, and media consultant died on Tuesday, but the news of his death broke on social media Wednesday. Fiofori was also a notable chronicler of Nigeria’s history through his albums. His films, which include the works of Nigerian artists Biodun Olaku, J. D. Okhai Ojeikere, and Olu Amoda, have left an indelible mark on the country’s cultural landscape. Fiofori’s influence extended beyond Nigeria.
He lived in Harlem, New York, in the 1960s, where he became Sun Ra’s manager and produced writing considered ‘a founding connection between Ra and the movement known as Afrofuturism’. This international exposure shaped his perspective and greatly influenced his work. He was famous for his significant contributions to film and photography. He managed American jazz legend Sun Ra, wrote for numerous publications, and was a founding executive of the Photographers Association of Nigeria. Fiofori’s legacy includes award-winning films and influential writings. In 2022, he received the IREP Lifetime Achievement Award. Femi Odugbemi, founder of the iREP Documentary Film Festival, praised him as a monumental figure in the documentary world. Born in Okrika, Rivers State, the late Fiofori grew up in Benin City, where his father, Emmanuel Fiofori, taught at Edo College. He attended King’s College, Lagos, and later King’s College London for his university education, after which he focused on writing and music.
In the US, he was an associate of Sun Ra. According to the Pan African Space Station, he invited Sun Ra to Lagos for FESTAC 77, which led to a visit to the Kalakuta Republic. He documented this experience in the Nigerian journal Glendora Review. His role in bringing underground black creativity to the American national consciousness in the 1970s was significant. As the first New Music/Electronic Music Editor for DownBeat and a contributor to many other art and literary publications in the US and Europe, he played a crucial role in shaping the cultural narrative of the time. He served as a film consultant to the Rivers State Council for Arts and Culture, director of the Rivers State Documentary Series, and consultant/scriptwriter to NTA Network on Documentaries.
He was also a founding executive of the Photographers’ Association of Nigeria (PAN). His works have been exhibited in Africa, Europe, and the US. Among the honours the late Fiofori received were awards from the Pan African Writers’ Association (PAWA), the present International Documentary Film Festival, and Music in Africa. He starred in films such as ‘Odum and Water Masquerades’ in 1974, ‘Biodun Olaku: Nigerian Painter’, ‘J. D. Okhai Ojeikere: Master Photographer’, and ‘Olu Amoda: A Metallic Journey’ in 2015. Some of his publications include the print documentary ‘A Benin Coronation: Oba Erediauwa’ of 2011. He contributed to the 2018 book ‘African Photographer J. A. Green: Re-imagining the Indigenous and the Colonial’, edited by Martha G. Anderson and Lisa Aronson.
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