ABOUT

After a successful career as an internationally-traveling professional dancer, Djeneba Aduayom progressed into photography and brought her love of movement and emotive performance into her imagery and subsequent directing work. Drawing inspiration from her cultural mix of French, Italian, and African heritage, her concepts and artistic expression is rooted in her personal exploration of the inner worlds that reside in her imagination. In looking within and articulating her creative ideas in a visual abstraction that beckons interpretation, she hopes her works allow the outside viewer to travel to a universe of their very own making. 

Aduayom is now based just outside of Los Angeles, CA. 

djeneba.aduayom2@gmail.com 

SELECTED CLIENTS: Aveda, Dior, American Express, United Nude, Haus Labs, Levi’s, Calypso St. Barth, Target, House of Harlow, The Cords & Co., Apple, HBO, BET, Pinterest x V Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, TIME, New York Magazine/The Cut, Vanity Fair, Vogue Hong Kong, Elle, Allure, Marie Claire, Marie Claire France, Women’s Health, Shape, Departures, Fast Company, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Hypebeast, Blanc, The Photographic Journal

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS: 2019, Djeneba Aduayom: Untitled X, AKAA / Paris Photo, Paris, France

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 2021-2022, INWARD: Reflections on Interiority, International Center of Photography, New York, NY | 2021, LES NOUVEAUX ROMANTIQUES, 3537, Paris, France | 2021, The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France | 2018, Innate: Future Blooms, Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal | 2018, Also Known as Africa, Paris, France

SELECTED AWARDS: 2022, The One Club for Creativity ADC Awards | 2022, American Photography 38 | 2021, American Photography 37 | 2020, Best Profile Photograph: St. Vincent for Billboard, American Society of Magazine Editors’ Awards | 2020, Gold Medal: A Pas de Deux for New York Magazine/The Cut, The One Club for Creativity One Show Awards | 2020, Online Platform and New Media: The 1619 Project for the New York Times, International Center of Photography Infinity Awards | 2018, Emerging Photographers, Voies Off Awards

SELECTED PRESS: “Emotive Performance,” Aesthetica, March 8, 2022. | “Djeneba Aduayom’s Evocative Photography,” The One Club for Creativity, November 17, 2021. | “Photography That Focuses on Those Who Are Often Not Seen,” New York Times, October 19, 2021. | “Five Black photographers proving iPhone-shot images can be art,” i-D, September 29, 2021. | “Photo Dumps Are Now In Museums,” Elle, September 27, 2021. | “See How Five Emerging Photographers Turned 2021 into Art,” W Magazine, September 24, 2021. | “Five Black Photographers Capture Their Interior Lives,” Harper’s Bazaar, September 24, 2021. | “An Intimate Look Inside Five Emerging Black Photographers, Shot Entirely on iPhone,” Surface Magazine, September 24, 2021. | “ICP’s Latest Photography Exhibit Focuses on the Inner Lives of Black Artists Through the Lens of an iPhone,” Town&Country, September 24, 2021. | “Isolde Brielmaier Curates All-Black iPhone Photography Exhibit, ‘Inward,’” Essence, September 24, 2021. | “Emerging Black Photographers Turn Their Lenses Inward at the ICP,” CULTURED, September 24, 2021. | “With her dreamlike self-portraits, Djeneba Aduayom seeks to create an escape from reality," The Washington Post, August 12, 2020. | “A Chat with Djeneba Aduayom about Her Series ‘Untitled X’ and Adhel,” A Shaded View on Fashion, November 11, 2019. | “Djeneba Aduayom: An Artist Untethered,” METAL Magazine, November 2018. | “Visual Q&A: Djeneba Aduayom,” Cooperative of Photography, August 29, 2018. | “Spotlight On: Djeneba Aduayom,” Format, July 16, 2018. | “Beyond the surface,” Vogue Italia, February 6, 2018.