About

Leonce's subjects are the people of Porto-Novo, Benin (formerly Republic of Dahomey). His daylight studio photographs are drawn from street life, his friends, family and studio customers. Benin is all about colour - Porto Novo is like a visual assault. In these impressive portraits, wild combinations of locally designed Dutch imported textiles create extreme gradations between background, foreground, person and clothing. The images are straight out of urban market scenes and the hurly burly of bars, street stalls and traffic jams. In the capital, funeral processions sport specially …