THE IMAGE FOUNDRY

For Teddy, photography is simply one of the many mediums he uses to express his creativity. A graduate of The Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Teddy credits the institution with broadening the limits of his creativity and instilling in him the love of other art forms such as plaster and stone sculpting, wood work, pencil drawing and painting. The merging of these mediums is what now informs Teddy’s personal projects and inspires his creative photography concepts he now executes in his new home, Nairobi Kenya

Achraf Baznani is the most inspiring Moroccan photographer of the social media, specialized in photo retouching, surrealism and photomontages. When he takes pictures, he has the imagination! The mind-bending surreal photography of Achraf Baznani proves it.

Through Kibera Stories, Brian Otieno looks beyond the stark realities that have defined his hometown’s visual narrative to photograph innovative fashion, art and everyday life.

Andrew Esiebo is a visual story telling who started out in photography by chronicling the rapid development of urban Nigeria as well as the country's rich culture and heritage.

As Andrew progressed with his career he started to explore new creative territory, integrating multimedia practice with the investigation of themes such as sexuality, gender politics, football, popular culture, migration, religion and spirituality.

Steve Bandoma employs a mix of drawings, splashes of colour, and collages, making for an incredible aesthetic of explosion or rather implosion, chaos and suffering, often against a backdrop of a clash of civilisations. Faces, limbs, body fragments, animated statuettes and fetish all fuse together to bring alive paintings in which surprising creatures feature large. Bandoma’s work endeavours to be contemporary and universal

Intrigued and inspired by new faces, places, cultures and customs David focuses his attention on taking any opportunity to travel and explore the African landscape, finding and creating images that transcend the subject matter into Fine Art prints.

Yannis portrait photography is a documentation of a new generation of Africans, unapologetically embracing their many identities and cultures in the face of globalization and Western cultural imperialism. His work also focuses on highlighting the diversity of African identities, as well as how these identities are created through the intersection of different factors such as gender, culture and socioeconomic status. By letting each image tell a different story and illustrate a unique experience, point of view and perspective, Yannis shapes and shadows creates a world of powerful, beautiful and dignified Africans regardless of gender performance, class or sexual orientation.

“Photography is a kind of virtual reality, and it helps if you can create the illusion of being in an interesting world”. Diane Arbus

Ala Kheir tries to use photography with the aim of self reflection, while enjoying the process and the difficulty to make a simple photograph that delivers a message.

Essamba’s work lies at the intersection of the social/gender and the artistic field. She uses her photography to bring her message across in a creative way. Her varied background and various travels and exhibitions have not only profoundly shaped her eye, but also mede her outlook to be equally aesthetic, idealistic, realistic and societal. Therefore, she joins the spirit of humanistic photography with a strong attachment to the values of communion.

Through his photographs, Gitonga turns commonplace insects into striking creatures that capture the attention because of their fascinating features and colours.

“This is my way of sharing that hidden beauty with people who would otherwise have no opportunity to witness such wonders,” said Gitonga.

Mauro’s practice is tied deeply to his origins in theatre; each of his photographs seem only the introduction of a string of other pictures meant to be tied together as a narrative. Vombe is part of a wave of young artists capturing the new generation of Mozambique.

Nader depends on the closest and spontaneous moment in his photographs. Nader It knows how to bring beauty amid crowd, how to show the real values of live, and how to see through people’s hearts and their relation with their environment.

Paul Sika refers to himself as a photo-maker, at the junction of a photographer and filmmaker. However, the photographic gesture in itself is only a step of his pictorial construction process, as he creates his photographs the same way others may create motion pictures.

Close to the simulacrum, this approach consists of building an image rather than capturing it. As a director, he places his characters in a cinematographic scenery, while creating out of the ordinary scenes.

Photographer and conservationist Patrick Bentley’s book Timeless celebrates the Zambian bush. “The Luangwa Valley has always been a place where time stands still,” Bentley says. “I often get the feeling here that I am stuck in an era that has remained unchanged for millennia.”

But it has changed. As a child, Bentley saw black rhinos disappear from this area. He realized something: “Within my lifetime all the magnificent animals I took for granted could be wiped out.” So, he does his part: His aerial and wildlife photography provides imagery and raises funds for local conservation nonprofits.

Alaa Satir is a Sudanese visual artist, known for her illustrations, murals and cartoons presenting images relating to women's rights, the Sudanese revolution of 2018/19 and other social and political issues in contemporary Sudan

Wycliffe Mundopa's vibrant paintings canonize the often overlooked lives of women and children in the artist's home of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mwamba Chikwemba is a multdisplinary artist and an active member of Visual Arts Council in Lusaka. One of her signature artistic styles is creating energetic, expressive portraits of women wearing headwraps, showing why women wear heardwraps culturally, spiritually and also historically. The colours in her works speak for the vibrant power of the female soul and describe the hardship faced by women today in a society dominated by men

Jean Bosco Bakunzi is inspired by artists like Marc Chagall, Picasso and Van Gogh, but also East African artists such as Sekajugo, Kartoon, and Onyango. His paintings stand out not only because of the originality of materials and techniques used, but also because of their reflection of deep emotional richness.

Seychellois artist James Agricole’s work varies from realism to semi-realism and abstract impressionism. The artist is fascinated by nature and he follows in the footsteps of nineteenth century Impressionists as he interrogates – as they did – the effect of light on the world.

Ellis Singano loves African stories and music and he translates this passion into artistic batik pieces. These batiks tell twists and turns of the African tale.

Natoa Rasolonjatovo is a 23 year old young talented artist and his unique talent is glass painting. He is a left-handed drawer and likes doing things upside down. This distinctive state led him to paint in glass resources by using oil color, ceramic color and porcelain.

Meshack works in an array of mixed media techniques using an intricate fusion of upcycled metal and driftwood. Bonding chains together, Meshack cleverly sculpts the inner struggles we go through as a condition of our own self-imposed psychological bondages.