‘Jean-Baptiste Belley (1746-1806)’ from the Diaspora series by Omar Victor Diop
Omar Victor Diop is talking about his photograph of Jean-Baptiste Belley, who was enslaved as a two-year-old but went on to become the first Black deputy in the French National Convention.
“What moved me about his story is that it’s also a very tragic one, because he died in prison in France, having gone through so many hurdles to get there,” says the Senegalese photographer, recognised with the RPS Award for Achievement in the Art of Photography.
Senegalese by birth, Belley bought his freedom in 1764, fought in the American War of Independence and served as a captain in the French army during the Haitian Revolution.
“He joined a movement that has influenced the world and the conception of democracy,” says Diop. “So there is this humanism, which I’m very sensitive to, and also this resilience. It’s another way to tell the story shared between Senegal and France.”
Diop’s image is a contemporary interpretation of Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson’s Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Belley, painted in 1797, which now hangs in the Palace of Versailles. The photograph is part of Diop’s Diaspora series, his first to use himself as a model to embody different characters.
“When I started, I needed to positively change the representation of Africans and their participation in history,” he explains. “I was inspired by the resilience of the gentlemen in the Diaspora series. And I wanted other people to be inspired by them.”
Discover more about Omar Victor Diop and other recipients of the RPS Awards 2025 in the January-March 2026 issue of the RPS Journal.
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