Artistic description of the photograph: In this composition, three figures gather around a traditional mask, a central element that shifts the image into a symbolic and timeless realm. The intersecting gazes and the tension of the bodies create a sense of verticality and dramatic power, where light unveils both the materiality of the flesh and the mystical aura of the mask. The work questions the role of cultural heritage, ancestral memory, and their dialogue with the present.
Artistic description of the series: The Bodies and Light series explores the relationship between body, identity, and light through a choreographic approach inspired by contemporary dance. Each photograph becomes a transformative space, where flesh—sometimes illuminated, sometimes absorbed by shadow—interacts with intimate or collective symbols. WODY highlights the fragility and strength of human beings while questioning the links between memory, territory, and the human condition. These poetic images are suspended fragments, where light sculpts presence and unveils the invisible.
Yawo WODY’s photographic practice delves into the fluid relationship between the human body, space, and light. Guided by a constant pursuit of balance, elegance, and poetic resonance, his work transforms photography into a choreographic language where movement becomes narrative.
His series “Corps et lumière” (Body and Light) embodies this approach. Inspired by his passion for contemporary dance and enriched through collaborations with dancers and choreographers from various companies, the series unfolds in three chapters, questioning: the body’s relationship with time, its inscription in space, and the transformations of identity it undergoes.
WODY sculpts his subjects with light, using both natural and artificial sources to reveal subtle details of form, texture, and emotion. His black-and-white images, often set against deep, minimalist backgrounds, create a tension between appearance and dissolution. Each photograph becomes a visual narrative, where energy, intimacy, and abstraction coexist.
Beyond aesthetics, his work engages with social and political questions, reflecting on themes such as power dynamics, territoriality, identity, and the evolving state of the world. Through his lens, Yawo WODY invites viewers into a space where the human body becomes a living sculpture, oscillating between fragility and transcendence.
Yawo WODY is a self-taught photographer, exhibition curator, and artistic director based in Lomé, Togo. His visual universe explores the interactions between the body, light, and movement, drawing inspiration from contemporary dance and three-dimensional forms.
2025 – Venice Architecture Biennale (Italy) Featured in the Togo Pavilion, curated by the Palais de Lomé
2023 – AKAA Art Fair (Also Known As Africa), Paris Presented the series “Corps et lumière|Body and Light.”
2022 – Group Exhibition, Palais de Lomé (Togo).
2021 – Festival of Contemporary Arts, Cotonou, Benin.
2020 – Solo Exhibition “Ombres et Présences | Shadows and Presences,” Lomé.
