NANA YAW ODURO

Presentation

NANA YAW ODURO is a Ghanaian photographer born in 1994 and based in Accra. He graduated from the University of Ghana's business class in May 2017 and began photographing in 2015. Nana Yaw Oduro's photos offer fictional self-portraits in which his models are like actors, playing a biographical role. Nana Yaw Oduro is, in this way, the director of her own emotions during the performance of a photo shoot. The pictorial composition helps to read these personal stories: the characters are individualized and stand out from their environment. The space of each image is defined without being too precise: a stretch of beach, a cracked piece of earth, a blue wall... it could be anywhere and at the same time nowhere. Arousing the viewer's curiosity, these captures seem timeless. They embody a desire for freedom whose only limit is the photographer's imagination. The stories her photos present are composed from a blend of her personal emotions, evident in the colors of her surroundings. Nana Yaw Oduro alternates soft, pure and raw colors in her photographs, alongside those captured in black and white. Whether in bold colors or shades of gray, the chromatic treatment structures her images and produces a certain softness and harmony between forms and colors, between man and nature, that underpins the narrative. Thus, there is no predetermined, systematically repeated concept in Nana Yaw Oduro's work. The photographer creates each of his images from his sensations. He frees himself from all rules and lets his imagination roam, composing with what exists around him. His photos are inspired by everyday life, a song in his ears, a horse crossing his path or a basket of fruit in front of his eyes. Creativity has no limits for him, inspiration is everywhere, poetry is everywhere. In 2022, Nana Yaw Oduro was the winner of the "People's Choice Award, Photo London x Nikon Emerging Artist of the Year". Her work has been shown at international fairs such as Photo London and 1-54 London, and shared in an editorial in the New York Times magazine. His photographs have also been the subject of two monographic presentations in Paris with the AFIKARIS gallery. Source : https://afikaris.com/fr/artists/52-nana-yaw-oduro/