J. A. Green

Jonathan Adagogo Green (1873–1905) was a late 19th-century Nigerian photographer, considered one of the first African professional photographers in his country. He is known as a pioneering photographer in West Africa, notable for his documentation of colonial life and local culture, particularly his Ibani Ijo community.

His photographic work has been collected by the British Museum, the Unilever Archives and the Bristol Archives in the United Kingdom, as well as by the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.

Life and career Green was born in Ayama-Peterside, Kingdom of Bonny, present-day Rivers State, Nigeria, to Sunju Okoronkwoye Dublin Green and Idameinye Green. His father was a village chief and palm oil trader who died in 1875, after which Green was raised by his paternal uncle, Uruasi Dublin Green. He received his education at Bonny's Church Mission Society high school and in Lagos.

Green learned the skills of a photographer in Sierra Leone around the early age of 18 and then founded his own studio in Bonny. The area where he lived became part of the British Oil Rivers protectorate in 1884, which was renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893. Most of his images were taken in Bonny, Opobo, and Kalabari. From 1900 onwards, these areas were part of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate for the last few years of Green's life.

Green was active as a photographer only for a short time, as he died at the early age of 32. His nephew, Gobo Green, later continued the photography business and a descendant, James A. Green, operated the studio until 1993.