Talented Nollywood actress Genevieve
Nnaji featured in the weekly edition of This Day Style; photographed was by TY
Bello, was styled by Veronica Odeka with face beat by Bimpe Onakoya.
TY Bello said………………………………….
GENEVIEVE NNAJI:BEAUTY AND
POWER
I started off my
photography journey as a documentary photographer . The images . Though they
leaned towards portraiture were always very ‘strong’ and ‘gritty’. Stronger
images always seemed to have more depth.. And the images were successful too, I
got to have them hung in prestigious galleries and biennales around the world, from
the Palais des Beaux-arts to the National centre for photography in New York.
My work was finding its
place in the art world and there was always something missing though and I knew
it. I was secretly in love with beauty
of a different kind.. It was missing in the work I put out on a pedestal. It
became clearer when I had a long conversation with Cameroonian photographer
Angele Essamba.
In the past, I would shy
away from showing any one I respected in contemporary photography my portraits
of beauty they were not ‘strong’ … I was right .. They were not. It wasn’t the
beauty in the images that weakened them. I just needed to grow. To understand
beauty and to find my own approach I’ve been on this journey for ten years.
Always questioning the work and holding back. Then pushing again but every once
in a while I photograph someone who helps me have those real conversations with
beauty. The conversations that go somewhere.
Genevieve Nnaji is one of
those subjects, maybe she has her own versions of those conversations within
herself or maybe it’s because she’s a strong beautiful woman with a clear sense
of who she is.
When I photograph her, I
see someone not caught up in but truly understands the power of beauty that its
sometimes enough. It can have a voice in the image that doesn’t have to be vain
and empty. God makes Beautiful and it will always have our attention. How much
sky do we really need? …for instance and must the sun set so uniquely today..
There’s power in making a beautiful portrait. Its power that I’m still learning to
understand .Letting every attribute and feature tell its own story …as written
by the Maker.
#tybellophotography
#genevievennaji #beauty #power #portrait #styled by @veronicaodeka . Makeup by
@bimpeonakoya
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