Words by Ayomide Tejuoso.
At the heart of the eighth edition of the PhotoVogue Festival, creative duo Togo Yeye is enraptured. Electrified and ablaze, the conceptual productions of Delali Ayivi and Malaika Nabilatou, are breaking visual boundaries in the city of Lomé. Founded on a dream of Togolese creative collaborative practices and communal artistic expression, Togo Yeye is engaging and enchanting the West African unwavering disposition. By re-contextualizing Togolese traditions, folktales, and histories within contemporary culture and imagery, they are composing photography bodies of work anchored in the proclamations of the youth and rhythms of the Atlantic.
Selected by Puig, a global premium beauty player, and PhotoVogue out of 5000 applicants for the “What is Beauty? Global Open Call, Delali Ayivi and Malaika Nabilatou have produced “By the Grace of Us”, a photography project grounded in Puig’s values of contagious Enthusiasm, Restless Curiosity, and Fairness and Respect. “By the Grace of Us” is a sonorous and entrancing repository of Togolese beauty and its contemplations. A re-imagination of the mundane and the sacred. A search for the sublime in Lomé, traced across the red blue painted walls, green sandy shores, long cascading weaves, and black brown gazes. Referencing religious paintings and classical togolese portraits, the symphonic subjects in the images are radiant and divine. They are hyper-romanticized manifestations of the passing Togolese youth, and their relationship with contemporary Togo, its hidden alcoves, stained concrete, yellow fish, and white doves. The simple and quotidian, laden with depth and valor.
Immersed in the Togo Yeye creative vision and practice, “By the Grace of Us” is a masterful embodiment of community and sincerity. Born from conversation and made for Togo, each image is a synthesis of collective thought and contributed innovation. From the groundbreaking Togolese hairdresser, Patron Aimé, to models and muses such as Darleine, Claudia, Maryline, Rose, Prudent, and dance duo Les Ewces, Delali Ayivi and Malaika Nabilatou are not solely interested in the final image but in the sustainable process of building an artistic community. All in an effort to produce Black art that is transcendent and everlasting, a bursting of timeless ideas and expression.
With the support of Puig, Togo Yeye has expanded its community, provided space for deliberate teamwork, and invested in the creative voices of the youth. They have developed an esteemed and imaginative documentation of the paradisiacal in Togo, providing a platform for the contributing artists, muses, dancers, and visionaries within the PhotoVogue exhibition space. “By the Grace of Us” is one of the many projects guided by the Togo Yeye dream. A Utopian dream of Togolese local and international threads of artistic declarations. A mapping of African and diasporic aesthetic endeavors made “for us by us”. The establishment of a West African creative industry honed by integrity, transparency, and love. “By the Grace of Us” is a visual amalgamation of the Togo Yeye vision, a cohesion of poetic pondering and aesthetic grandeur. From two black boys and one pointed finger, to an indigo stained skirt and pink blushed peer, “By the Grace of Us” is black beauty and its assertions.
Exhibiting in the PhotoVogue Festival “What is Beauty?” exhibition, “By the Grace of Us” is an enthralling sequence of Togolese imaginative pursuits. With mesmeric photographs of Black uniformed girls and their steady fists, a Black woman and her red stained lips, gushing braids and swollen plaits, green white weaves and white gold sequins, Black boy joy, and and Black girl gloom, the subjects of Togo Yeye are tumbling celestials. Heavy with devotion, sleeping on hidden floors and forgotten rooms. “By the Grace of Us” is at the nose of contemporary art, fashion, and culture.
The PhotoVogue Festival being the first conscious fashion photography festival committed to the intersections of ethics and aesthetics, is honored to showcase the Togo Yeye dream and conceptual resolutions. With a transformative and cutting edge legacy in contemporary photography and fashion, PhotoVogue collaborates with Puig to support the next generation of image makers. Delali Ayivi and Malaika Nabilatou are rising visionaries in art and culture, deeply committed to cultivating serene and seraphic Togolese visual worlds. Inventive and thoughtful, they are constructing a fantasia of Togolese musings, responding to the ocean, the waterfalls, the shore, and the youth.
On the occasion of the PhotoVogue Festival, Delali Ayivi and Malaika Nabilatou discuss with contemporary artist and writer Ayomide Tejuoso. Speaking on their creative journey, collaborative and communal ambitions, inspirations, and the significance of “By the Grace of Us”, further insight is given to their methodology. They gracefully articulate their probes and introspections, presenting an outstanding artistic approach and dedication. In truth, they are the future of Togolese visual representations.
Ayomide Tejuoso: My first question is, what is the Togo Yeye dream?
Malaika Nabilatou: Togo Yeye shares a utopian dream of creating and expanding a Togolese creative community in Togo and its diaspora. Our dream is to unite our community around transparency and sincerity, breaking the norms and stereotypes surrounding African youth all over the world. One of Togo Yeye’s methods to build this community is to produce artwork by documenting and drawing inspiration from our people. In hopes that Togolese people, and even other Africans, can identify themselves through his works.
Delali Ayivi: The Togo Yeye dream at its core, is fashioning community and innovation through creative productions. We hope to bring people together, to dream and create together. The hope is to build something that is bigger than us and that will outlive us a place where ideas are fostered, taught and exchanged between multiple creative disciplines.
Ayomide Tejuoso: I want to know Delali, who are you and what is your artistic story and vision? I want to know about your work as a photographer and your journey being a creative in London and now Togo.
Delali Ayivi: This question is always so tough to answer, and my response will most likely always change. I call myself an image maker. I don t have a traditional photography education, so the term still doesn t quite roll off the tongue, even though it is my medium of choice. My images are usually a combination of colors and social theory, and photography is the best form of visual expression for me. I grew up somewhat between places and cultures, and I think this is quite visible in my visual language. I like to credit the beginning of my photography career to the weekly Tumblr-inspired photoshoots that my friends and I used to have in Malawi. Another significant catalyst for my work was finding my great-great-grandfather s work, as the first photographer in Togo, and wanting to create work that mimics the confidence and pride in Togolese identity and life that I saw in most of his images. This motivated me a lot to seek out like-minded people like Malaika.
My earlier years in Germany are what have sparked my interest and need for social theory and activism. Studying in London provided me with the tools and structure to vocalize creative processes. What mainly drives me is to create visuals that resonate with people in terms of color, composition, and movement. My hope is that these images can open up a space that allows for narratives to be diversified and can accompany conversations about global power imbalances, while also evoking pride and joy. My focus is especially on Togo, London, and sometimes Germany, as I have the most insights here.
Ayomide Tejuoso: And to you Malaika, what are your inspirations and dreams? I know you work as a creative director across Lagos and Lomé, what are your creative visions and hopes?
Malaika Nabilatou: I would like to be able to answer clearly and poetically the question of who Malaika is, but I am currently still searching for myself. I am constantly evolving, seeking to become the person I deep down want to be. I have such big and utopian ambitions that I often feel ridiculous. I am good at creative direction, but I ve only begun learning for the past two years. My goal is to become one of the best creative directors in arts and fashion that Africa will know of in time. I draw my inspiration from everything and nothing. Details appeal to me, allowing me to create concepts from scratch. I like to invent things that don t yet exist, which is why I currently form the best artistic duo in West Africa with my dear friend and photographer, Delali Ayivi. Together, we share our passion to create unforgettable photographs.
Ayomide Tejuoso: I want to know, what is the Togo Yeye aesthetic and what inspires it? Is it Togo, the ocean, water, the landscapes? What archive images, or historical artists shape how you both think?
Delali Ayivi: Togo Yeye’s aesthetic is a mix of documenting and then warping reality through color, texture, and movement. Our secret sauce is that we are two different personalities with different upbringings, with a shared pride in our country. Visually, this creates intriguing tensions and contrasts, in harmony. We mainly let our surroundings inspire us, the walls, paintings, movements, memories, and dreams around us. The internet too, we don t always take ourselves too seriously. There are many memes or things that are intended as funny that we find beautiful or we find that fits into a fashion context. Water, Yes! We do go swimming a lot (or floating rather) on the Atlantic. It is incredibly meditative. Lastly, I think our religious upbringing informs our sense of aesthetic a lot.
Malaika Nabilatou: Complementarity, vision, effort, and above all confidence in our work are, for me, a few words that define our aesthetic. Delali and I find inspiration in our daily surroundings. We like to go walking to find inspiration in the streets of Lomé. Some of our best ideas came about while we were swimming. The fact that I am Togolese, born and raised in Togo, while Delali is Togolese, from the diaspora, is one of our major assets in terms of inspiration. When we brainstorm, we learn from each other, approaching each question with different but harmonious opinions and opinions.
Ayomide Tejuoso: I am so fascinated by the Togo Yeye dream of community. What does creative community and collaboration mean for you both? and why is it important?
Malaika Nabilatou: I value this affirmation of Mamou Daffé that said: "You must serve the community for the community to serve you in return." Delali and I understand that at this stage, Togo Yeye is bigger than us. Many people, especially in our small team, rely on us. We know that it s together that we can make it happen, and we are very happy to create this community. We are also ready to work hard to expand it and preserve it for future generations because we understand that this community is the future of Togo.
Delali Ayivi: Community is everything to us. You can t achieve things that are bigger than yourself alone. You need people that fuel and add to your dreams. Who picks you up when you are tired? People who motivate you and vice versa. We want to be able to learn and share knowledge, and we need people that carry on ideas and dreams when we can no longer do it ourselves. For this, we need to find people who are like-minded, with which we can work toward a common goal together. Malaika and my lives changed when we met each other. It opened new avenues and visions, so it feels only natural to want to extend our circle in Togo and beyond. Our understanding of community also reminds us to work in service to our people, not just for our gain.
Ayomide Tejuoso: “By the Grace of Us” is truly one of the most beautiful photographic bodies of work I have ever written about. I want to know, what is the story behind it? What is it about?
Delali Ayivi: “By the Grace of Us” is our latest Project commissioned by PhotoVogue and inspired by Puig values. In correspondence to this year s theme of the PhotoVogue festival “What is Beauty?”, we explored beauty within Togo, especially in Lomé. We created a love letter to Togo’s youth and our shared Values. Exploring beauty as a language of culturally coded values, led us to examine the ideals that determine our way of life, our convictions and subsequently our perception of beauty. Our aim was to show the beauty in such shared values through a curated documentary approach. By elevating what we see around us on a daily basis, we aim to champion everyday beauty at home, in the city of Lome and beyond.
We see a woman relaxing on her bed, covered with batik fabric, a typical image in every Togolese household. We see beauty in the uniformity of clothing for school or special occasions, beauty in leisure, beauty in our struggles. Through the use of hair and fashion, we showed those who explore identity and performance with the aesthetics of their subculture. For example, another image shows two men in “streetwear” against an orange backdrop using unusual props to stand out, and a young woman with green strands of hair flaunting her newest look, representing Togolese night culture. Long hair covering a young woman, like a veil of protection, showing the fearlessness and determination with which we young people move.
Malaika Nabilatou: The “By the Grace of Us” project is one of the largest we have undertaken this year. It showcases the beauty in the everyday simplicity of things. It’s a message to our community, especially to the youth of Togo. We have truly tried to convey our values through each picture, such as love, empathy, serenity, support, etc. Each image was meticulously planned, first put on paper, and with our amazing team, we brought it to life in pictures.
Ayomide Tejuoso: Looking at the values of Puig and how did they manifest in “By the Grace of Us”?
Delali Ayivi: The majority of Puig’s values align with our own vision. This meant that producing images that represent, for example, “wellness, confidence, and self-expression while leaving a better world” came quite naturally to us. We were excited to be able to show what these values mean in a Togolese context, and I think that is what makes the images and this collaboration so special. We made efforts to show young Togolese people at ease, in nature and with each other. We aimed to show a strong, expressive but thoughtful youth that carries the responsibility of the well-being of the generations after us on its shoulders.
Especially the idea of fairness, respect, and transparency are really important to me and the way we work. This commission gave us the opportunity to lead a larger team than before, and we are learning the joy and the challenges that come with this growth, as well as the importance of the above-mentioned values.
By using surreal elements such as a floating flower and the re-exploration of common or touristic sights such as the Waterfalls of Womé, we aimed to represent Puig’s value for constant curiosity. A big part of our creative process is to never let the eye grow tired. It is an encouragement to see the beauty in places you may drive past every day. To show them from our angle.
Malaika Nabilatou: It’s hard to choose just one value in this case because they are all beautiful and important. The images of “By the Grace of Us” are a manifestation of all the values.
Ayomide Tejuoso: I know that “By the Grace of Us” was shot in popular and mundane locations in Togo? Hidden walls, seashores, and simple corners. What does the romanticization and re-exploration of Togo mean to you both in photography?
Malaika Nabilatou: I always strive to showcase the best side of my country, and every time we exhibit internationally, I want people to recognize that this work is Togolese. The basic idea was to artistically highlight these mundane public places. As I mentioned earlier, I see art everywhere, even in many details that people overlook. I hope that in a few years, our photos will be the first to appear on Google when people search to see Togo. We are trying to recreate a visual identity for our country, and involving many young people is one of the reasons. We want it to be work done by us, for us.
Delali Ayivi: I think sometimes being a bit naive and delusional is the best thing to imagine worlds that don t yet exist based on reality. We create dreams in real time by romanticizing our environments. Finding beauty in all we see. It is a way of cherishing what we have, a way of care and nurture. The best way for something to flourish and grow is to give it love. I think that s what we try to do with our work. Hence the romanticization! Even in times of AI, seeing is believing. Photography has been long deemed as capturing something real, and I think that s what makes the work so exciting. The romanticization of reality, the Utopia feels less far away and more tangible as a photograph.
Ayomide Tejuoso: I want to know what crafted this project so beautifully? What conversations and reflections helped make the project?
Delali Ayivi: The conversations concern a lot the gaze we have on our country as well as how we want to create the images. The initial concept was created through meetings with Malaika and me, putting together a mood board with the type of imagery that best represents beauty in Togo and how we mean to capture it. The result was a mix of images we had taken by the side of the road, at home, and found imagery from the internet.
Secondly, conversations moved on to the mode of production with our team, meaning how do we make everyone on set feel comfortable and part of something larger. How do we create images that will speak to Togolese people as well as people worldwide? There is a popular expression: “Togo to the world” that encompasses our conversations well. How can we create something for the benefit and joy of our people here in Togo, but while still resonating with people globally?
As a team, we met every day for three weeks. Productions are always very intense phases where you don t sleep much because you are so deeply immersed in realizing visuals that in the beginning only exist in our heads. I am a very visual thinker and I spend a lot of time pairing colors in my head before even sketching my ideas on paper.
I remember a conversation one evening with our team, about how to best explain a creative production to someone who is not in the creative industry and how to best explain the consumption and movement of imagery once they are published. Another conversation was about power structures in the creative industry in Togo and how often foreigners are given preferential treatment and higher positions in the country. We are all still on a path of learning, nothing for us is final, and there are still many things we can and have to improve and change as we go. We always want to strive for better for all of us. There are many complexities that affect the way we work and the final image itself. But it all comes down to how we want to be seen.
Malaika Nabilatou: We started in August at first remotely over the phone. At this time I was overseeing a highly stressful residency project in Lomé. But we had frequent calls to establish the primary ideas of how we would showcase the beauty of Togo through this project. We exchanged many inspirational photos and discussed how to structure things with the team. Then, when we met the staff, we often had deep discussions on how to improve our artistic system, and sometimes even political and intimacy debates. With the models, we talked about anything and everything, and each of these conversations updated our idea during production.
Ayomide Tejuoso: How does “By the Grace of Us” relate to the theme of the PhotoVogue festival 2023 “what is beauty”?
Malaika Nabilatou: The theme this year is beauty, and “By the Grace of Us” is a pure visual representation of the beauty of Togo, its proud and optimistic youth promoting noble values. Also, Lomé, the capital of Togo, is nicknamed “Lomé the beauty,” and the fact that we shoot in some iconic public places in the capital makes these photos even more special. I hope that everyone, especially the Togolese people, can identify with this project.
Delali Ayivi: “By the Grace of Us” shows beauty through our unfiltered lens. No pun intended! If someone asked us what beauty is to Togo Yeye, the images would be our answer. Of course there is always more to capture! But our focus on this project was mainly on Togolese youth culture, and I think we have summarized the meaning of beauty within our generation well!
Ayomide Tejuoso: The PhotoVogue Festival is here! Truly an exciting time and inspiring time. How important is it for Togo Yeye to have its work showcased as a Togolese duo?
Delali Ayivi: I am so excited! I plan my year around the PhotoVogue festival! I always come back so inspired. The Community of photographers and creatives, as well as the Vogue team, makes you feel so at home. It was such an intense but wonderful weekend! I can t wait to meet everyone in person. Every year I keep inviting more people to come with me too, with no concept of organization and logistics. I can t wait! I think being given space on such an important and established platform such as Photo Vogue gives our hopes, dreams, and work a lot of validity. It helps us reach people around the world and portray an image of Togo that does not only show us in terms of what we lack but also of what we have. It s important that we diversify this one-sided image of our country.
Ayomide Tejuoso: With some of the most inventive contemporary photography projects being produced, what do you think is the future of Togo Yeye?
Delali Ayivi: I think the future is bigger than Malaika and me and our creative vision. I feel this when we sit with our team. So many people identify with Togo Yeye, I think for now our creativity is just the glue that binds us and builds our foundation. I think the future of Togo Yeye is perhaps a round table and a building that allows us to share skills and ideas as well as offer a home for people from abroad. Malaika and I are not in a rush though. We are also still learning, and we feel that if we want to create something sustainable we need to take our time with it to make sure every piece is in the right place. In the future we will need all the help and input we can get, so our immediate need is to keep growing and strengthening our relationship with our community. What that will look like creatively I am not sure yet, hahah.
TogoYeye is a Lomé based creative duo co-founded by Malaika Nabillah and Delali Ayivi. Malaika is a Artist and Curator, Delali is a Photographer and Artist. Together, Malaika and Delali find and work with innovative Togolese talent in arts and fashion. Under their creative vision and direction, they create work that hopes to document and empower their creative community at home and in the diaspora. The optimism in Togo Yeye’s imagery shines a light onto Togo’s underrepresented future generations and the dreams and hopes they hold, opening symbiotic conversations about tradition and (re-) defining togolese modernity and history.
Malaika was born and raised in Lomé. Since a young age Malaika has worked as an entrepreneur in Textiles, Fashion and Beauty. After completing high school Malaika transitioned into the Medical Field but a change of circumstances brought her to revive her passion for fashion and arts and to consider the creative field as a career path. An unusual and not at all easy choice in Togo as our creative economy is still in its infancy. Besides her image-based works with Togo Yeye; Malaika works through textiles, working especially with traditionally west African dying techniques such as Batik in an effort to localise the production of traditional fabrics.
Delali Ayivi is a Togolese and German photographer based in Lomé. At the Age of 15 she moved to Lilongwe in Malawi. After finishing high school, Delali moved to London to enrol at University of the Arts London. Delali started by photographing her friends and Family in Germany, Togo and Malawi. Finding her great-great-grandfather´s work, one of the first Togolese photographers Alex A. Acolatse, inspired Delali to document her surroundings with a focus on fashion.
In 2019, Malaika and Delali co-found their Duo TogoYeye. They found that trough their different perspectives and upbringings they could learn a lot from each other. In 2022 The project was awarded the pH Museum New Generation Prize. A commissioned Solo exhibition has been on view at the Palais de Lomé in Togo since February 2022 looking at historic Togolese hair dressing practices. Togo Yeye’s works were part of the PhotoVogue Festival in Milan in 2021 and 2022. In 2022 Nataal Issue 3 featured Togo Yeye’s work on their cover. The Fashion Story spotlighted a range of young designers From Togo. In 2023 The Museum of St. Louis in Senegal acquired on of their works as part of their permanent collection and TogoYeye was part of 1-54 Art fair in New York and London.
