Inspired by - Africa
The Kings of Africa photographed by Daniel Laine
Posted by rod - 25.05.2009
Joseph Langanfin -Benin
Oni (King) of Ife – Nigeria
Ngie Kamga Joseph – Fon of Bandjun – Cameroon
Halidou Sali – Lamido of Bibemi – Cameroon
Oseadeeyo Addo Dankwa III – King of Akropong – Akuapem – Ghana
Abubaka Sidiq – Sultan of Sokoto – Nigeria
Hapi – VI – King of Bana – Cameroon
Nyimi Kok Mmabiintosh III – King of Kuba – D. R. Congo
Igwe Kenneth Nnaji Onyemaeke Orizu III – Obie Of Nnewi – Nigeria
Isienwenro James Iyoha Inneh – Ekegbian of Benin – Nigeria
Agboli-Agbo Dedjlani – King of Abomey – Benin
goodwill Zwelethini – King of Zulu – South Africa
el Hadji Mamadou Kabir Usman – Emir of Katsina – Nigeria
Bouba Abdoulaye – Sultan of Rey-Bouba – Cameroon
Aliyu Mustapha – Lamido of Adamawa – Nigeria
Oba Joseph Adekola Ogunoye – Olowo of Owo – Nigeria
Between the years of 1988 and 1991, French photographer Daniel Laine spent about 12 months on the African continent tracking down and photographing figures of royalty, and leaders of kingdoms. During this time he managed to photograph 70 monarchs and descendants of the great African dynasties with his work on this series. via Design you can trust. Photos found via Lifelounge
29 Comments (add yours?)
i love the collection you have here. Although, some of these rulers are no longer in “power”. It’ll be nice to this updated and with more pictures. Good job though.
I’ll have a look if I can find some more pictures.
i’m pretty sure that if i was black, i would sell everything i own, buy lots of gold jewelry, and move to west africa.
Hi Rod, Fantastic pictures.
Fascinating to see how other kings have dressed in different countries in Africa. May be to throw people off, it might be funny to add Prince Charles in the pictures. 
All the best.
Beautiful pictures indeed.
But also shameful ripping of someone else’s site!
What a stunning and creative theme. With some background information this would make a great book.
Wow…..do people really still question why Africa is so fucked up? Can they do anything? Why build a time machine when you can go back 8000 years to that crap-hole and see how we lived like monkeys, and do it today. Good Luck Africa…..you are going to need it!
THIS IS A MARVELOUS PHOTO ESSAY. HOWEVER, I DO NOT SEE ADJACENT A SIMILAR TO THE BRAZILIAN KINGS AND QUEENS (!) I FIND THIS TO BE A MUST AND INDISPENSABLE GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN GRAPHIC ETHNO-POLITICS. IF YOU WISH, PLZ, DO GET IN TOUCH FOR SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING IT.
Great pics but it would of been nice if you added James Ealr Jones from Coming to America.
I would love to know more about the process you used. Did the “kings” select the poses and the items to be photographed? How willing were they? (Were all of them still alive – some look dead!) Did you have any restrictions on what could be used as props, ie I notice an absence of guns.
Tell us more, please.
Terry
I second Terry Stone’s request. I’d love to know more about “behind the photographs”.
Just pretty pictures won’t do!
If you read the describing text, these photos where taken by Daniel Lainé. His book is available on http://www.amazon.com/ and contains more pretty pictures. CreativeRoots don’t do case studies.
Nice collection and an interesting idea to capture. I could swear I saw goodwill (goodwill Zwelethini – King of Zulu – South Africa) on the cover of a 70′s soul album! (LOL)
now a picture forms…no wonder Africa has so much crap to contend with!!!
pure beautiful!
I like this collection of cultural representation.
Another nice addition would be to place some of the western world next to these, and see some similarities.
i thought that the kings used to put a crown on the head. i mean a golden crown. but what im seen is not that , so were goes all gold of africa , and the kings shouldnt dress with fine cloths . hell what is that?
Interesanta ar fi o CARTE despre acesti regi africani
[...] then thought back to Daniel Laine’s African Kings series. It is old work now (completed in 1988/91) but I am still impressed by the access Laine [...]
These photos by Daniel Lainé are amazing. The images are definitely worth a thousand words. It’s nice to see they have become catalyst for so many remarks… even the unintelligent ones. Thanks for rematerializing such interesting work CreativeRoots!
Thank you for reminding me of where i inherited my appreciation for colors.
Long live the kings of Africa!
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kok nma sma orangnya muirip samasidiq temank
This is excellent. Just bought the book which apparently is now out of print last week! Great to see imagery on African royalty! Thank you for sharing!
the pictures are great! i recommend you to take pictures of the queen or princes:]
Impresionante!
These are great pictures. but as my friend said we need to recognize the existence of queens in our locality.
I have a friend (seriously) on Face Book who just commented today about being frustrated with all the media coverage of the”Royal Wedding”. He expressed that there would never be this much coverage of an African wedding and goes on to it being a racist thing. What are our thoughts on this and why won’t they cover an African wedding as such? Just curious to hear some other thoughts on the subject.
photographies sont belles et montrent toute leur majesté