Tessilim Adjayi, a photographer witnessing his era
Originally from Togo, Tessilim Adjayi is a photographer, and a video and documentary film director. He was born in the village of Assahoun, 52 kilometers from Lomé, in 1988.
Entre travail et amour
From cinema to photography
Trained at the Institut Supérieur des Métiers de l'Audiovisuel (ISMA) in Benin, Tessilim obtained a degree in Editing - post-production (audiovisual professions, arts, cinema).
2018 begins his film career with the production of the documentary "Rejoindre l'Europe Mourir en Mer," which can be translated as Going to Europe Dead in the Sea. This documentary allowed him to be spotted in film festivals in France, Bangladesh, Burundi, Niger, Cameroon, and Togo.
However, it was in 2015 that Tessilim opened up to photography, which was a bit by chance! When he went to a photo lab to print his pictures, the owner of the place offered to recruit him after seeing the quality of his work. This experience was formative and marked the beginning of his passion for photography.
Esso
An introspective artistic approach
Through his lens, the artist tells stories and scenes of everyday life. His mastery of digital work brings a profound dimension to his pictures. His black-and-white works seem timeless and perfectly illustrate the social realities he witnesses. Using black and white is a way for him to highlight a powerful image on a subject.
Tessilim also opts for color photos, in particular, to translate emotions and sensations and to reflect reality as closely as possible and situate it in its time.
The artist uses the scenography of objects to perfect his creations. He develops an "identity" imagery based on the portrait but also the self-portrait.
His work results from a journey to the heart of the urban memory he has been observing for several years. Tessilim wonders about the future, the difficulties, and the issues of our time. It is an introspective approach transcribed in his creation.
Cultural inspirations
Through his work, Tessilim desires to tell the story of Africa. His ambition is to show the continent's different cultures by highlighting singular characters and using his art to question and challenge the viewer.
Research is an essential prerequisite in the artist's creative process. He documents himself on the themes he approaches (such as African rituals) and meets the populations.
For his series entitled "Ronou," Tessilim met the Lobozounkpa people of Benin. He says of his approach:
"This step is important because I must search, delve and dig deep into the subject I want to address to make it poetic, singular, and original."
Then follows the creation of muses that he stages and then photographs.
Tro tro bé ka » l’incarnation du devenir
Original and contemporary projects
Ronou series, 2022
This project was a part of an artist residency at the Center, Lobozounkpa, in Benin, in March 2022. The exhibition proposes a series of 13 digital and black-and-white photographs.
Ronou is a Yoruba term for "to think, to reflect." For this series, Tessilim Adjayi constructs his photographs in urban spaces with a redundant theme: cardboard. The cardboard is a metaphor for self-withdrawal: because it is carried, it represents the conscience; and because it is closed, it designates the reflection, the internal distance.
To realize this series, the artist met the population of Lobozounkpa and conducted individual interviews around the term "exile." These exchanges inspired the idea of the cardboard: the main thread of the series.
Ronu
"The concept of the open and closed cardboard box best defines the idea of exile," explains the artist.
The cardboard leads him to tell new stories through the prism of the physical experience of Man, his thoughts, his imaginations, his limits, and the bodies in bankruptcy.
He relies on the image of packages usually delivered in cardboard, which, once opened, are not always up to the recipient's expectations.
Series “Les entrepreneurs ambulants de Lomé”, December 2021
This series gathers fifty color photographs taken in African cities where Tessilim worked during the coronavirus pandemic.
He immortalized the merchants who adapted to the crisis of covid 19. The vendors who left the markets to meet the customers are highlighted. The documentary series highlights the adaptability of these mobile entrepreneurs.
