Within the framework of Women by Women, PhotoVogue’s global open call dedicated to authorship and representation shaped by women, PhotoVogue and Pandora introduce the Pandora Grant, an initiative designed to support women’s creative practices and expand meaningful opportunities within contemporary visual culture.
The Grant reflects Pandora’s commitment to championing women’s empowerment, self expression, and creative independence. Across its global initiatives, Pandora has consistently invested in projects that foster inclusion, community, and opportunity. The Grant extends this vision into the field of image making, reinforcing the belief that creativity flourishes when it is structurally supported.
Delali Ayivi was selected from among those featured in the Women by Women open call. She received a 20,000 euro financial grant in recognition of the strength, claritys, and originality of her vision.
A Togolese–German photographer, Delali Ayivi was born in Baltimore and raised in Germany, and later lived in Malawi and studied at University of the Arts London. Inspired by her great-great-grandfather Alex A. Acolatse, she began documenting her communities across Togo, Germany, and Malawi, with a focus on fashion and identity. Now based between London and Lomé, she co-founded Togo Yeye in 2019 to support creative communities at home and in the diaspora, and she received honors including Dazed 100, British Fashion Council NEW WAVE Creative (2023), and Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe (2025).
"We are inspired by Delali’s creative vision, which is deeply rooted in the idea of imagination as freedom - imagination as a way to expand reality.” said Pandora’s creative directors Francesco Terzo and A. Filippo Ficarelli. “Her Language of Becoming, and her exploration of identity shaped by transformation and courage, feel both unique and universal. Her work has the power to open up meaningful conversations around personal expression and transformation — two themes that are deeply connected to the foundation of Pandora. It is a true pleasure for us to support, uplift and celebrate her work.”
In On Womanhood and the Right to Dream, Ayivi traces a poetic narration of womanhood and sisterhood, where women are co-authors of visual worlds in images that linger between reality and the mythical. Delali’s practice is a celebration of all the women who raised her and who accompany her in her creative and everyday life—an act of gratitude and solidarity where contradictions coexist and women are free to be themselves. Photography becomes a fertile space for imagination, where possible futures can be envisioned and fantasy can become reality.
Ayivi was officially announced during a dedicated conversation on Tuesday, March 3, at the PhotoVogue Festival. The talk, conceived to celebrate this moment, brought together PhotoVogue and Pandora in a public dialogue on vision, responsibility, and the importance of cultural support for women artists.
“Supporting women’s vision requires more than symbolic gestures,” says Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue and Director of the PhotoVogue Festival. “A 20,000 euro grant represents something concrete. It offers time, research, experimentation, and the freedom to take creative risks. Meaningful financial support can change the trajectory of an artist’s practice. With this initiative, we are not only recognising talent, we are helping to create the conditions in which it can fully unfold.”
In a cultural environment where visibility is often fleeting, tangible support is transformative. Investing in women’s creative vision is not merely an act of recognition. It is a concrete gesture toward a more equitable and inclusive future for visual culture.
