The French-Italian-Togolese artist has already had several lives in one life. Always driven by her creative spirit, the former professional dancer Djeneba Aduayom had to leave her youthful passion after some physical problems, to flourish in a completely different field, photography. Exhibited all over the world, and currently based in California, Aduayom wants to be an artist mixing the expressions of imagination, nature, with her European and African origins as a backdrop. Portrait.
4 mins
A life ordeal can destroy forever, or allow you to make a new start, write a new chapter, and move forward. It is from this perspective that artist Djeneba Aduayom has gradually approached her life after a major injury suffered during her dancing career while she was on a world tour. It was a shock at first, but little by little I understood that it was an important moment in my personal creative journey. “, she explains, ” even though, at the time, I didn’t see it coming. Switching to photography has been a new page in my life, allowing me to explore aspects of my creative expression in ways I had never imagined before.. »
Born into a multicultural family, French, Togolese and Italian, Djeneba expressed her creativity from a very young age, by writing poetry, immersing herself in numerous readings, but also by taking an interest in design, fashion, and dance. I have always had a creative nature, ever since I was little, and since dance was my passion, I threw myself into it wholeheartedly, while keeping my eyes on other art forms. “, she explains. She grew up between Paris and Togo, and the constant mix of cultures allowed her to open up, learn and navigate in different contexts, but also to express her creativity under the constructive influence of her origins. ” Due to my cultural heritage, I see the world from different perspectives, which allows me to navigate in different contexts, to adapt, while finding inspiration in fields, places, spaces where different cultures mix, converge or diverge. This dual culture is a central tool in my life, in my artistic projects, since always. » The young artist touched her first camera as a teenager, and after several years of touring with a professional troupe, destiny made her launch into photography. I started and got caught up in the game. Photography has become for me this powerful instrument to capture moments, people, landscapes, emotions. “, explains the artist. His career behind the camera is launched, and Aduayom wants to explore this means of expression to the fullest, ” and visually communicate things that even words often fail to express. ” She settled on this side of the Atlantic and became a professional photographer.
Levi’s, Dior, the New York Times and Kamala Harris
The artist grew up in his new favorite environment and chained projects, solo, in groups and works for large companies, publications, and famous people. The New York Times, Time, Vanity Fair, Elle, but also Dior, Aveda, American Express, Apple and personalities like Kamala Harris, the current candidate for the White House on the Democratic side and André 3000, the star of the Group OutKast and the actress Issa Rae pass in front of the lens of Aduayom, who always wants to keep his philosophy of work and creativity in mind. When I work with people, I like to push them to express their emotions in ways they are not used to, beyond the usual limits of each person’s emotional expression. “, she says. Her exhibitions Also known as Africa (2018), The New Black Vanguard (2019), but also Inner reflections (2021) are visible in Paris, London and New York, and the photographer sets no limits for herself, because for her, the image has none. Photography, video, it’s an infinite field of possibilities, and the image allows you to explore reality, but also imagination, by mixing the two at times. It’s an endless exploration “, she says. She is thousands of kilometers from Paris and Lomé, but works on projects on Africa, and wants to help, in her own way, to shine a light on artists from the diaspora and to get people talking about the continent. ” It is super important to present Africa through the various talents from or linked to the continent, and to show it from different angles, according to the perceptions of its artists.s,” she believes, “ The cultures, identities, beauty but also the complexity of Africa must be explored, through photography or any other art form, so that its artists are more considered, more visible and better recognized.. » A mission in which she participates in her art, as in her most recent exhibition, Insight/Within alongside the French-Senegalese artist Delphine Diallo and which was exhibited during the summer at the Picto studio in New York, where Aduayom worked on black and white photographs of women and nature. I love the connection between man and nature, and going beyond the classic framework. Always with Africa in mind. “.