Kingmaker

Photographer

Philipp Schmieja

Category

People Photography - Culture

Company

Submission Group

Amateur

Year

2026

Country / Region:

Germany

No king is crowned without her. Among the twenty-five million Akan of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, no king is crowned without the komians. They read water and shell, settle disputes, name the medicine --- and enthrone the chief. Today their school in the east is losing its roof and their pulpit rivals call them possessed. Here a young initiate stands at a window in white cloth and kaolin, holding an office older than the state that has stopped listening to it. Photographed in black and white: an authority left to light and its absence.