Like much of Africa, Côte d’Ivoire has seen a tremendous surge in artistic output, with photography being a primary medium through which artists are expressing themselves. As the local offerings continue to grow and amaze, 4 women are at the forefront of sculpting new messages about African identity, reshaping the Ivorian photography scene in the process. Marie Jeanne Akobe, better known as Akobs, is the food, product, and interior photographer whose postgraduate study of marketing affirmed the importance of imagery as a means of selling. Aïcha Fall is an iPhone photographer and autodidact whose work bridges a gap between her identity, her culture, and her traditions. Noella Elloh is the visual artist and digital strategist behind “Weaving Generations”, a fall 2019 photo series that poetically tackles the issue of environmental ruin in Côte d’Ivoire. When Saphir Niakadie was younger, she bought a camera as a means of replicating what she saw—with age came a voice more focused on concepts and storytelling rooted in exploring the human experience.
SOURCE: OKAYAFRICA