Stephen Tayo studied philosophy at the University of Lagos. Tayo lives, works in, and draws inspiration from Lagos. His work has been featured in Vogue US, British Vogue, New York Times, Indie Magazine, Dazed, Teen Vogue, Okay Africa, Vogue Italia, CNN, ArtNews, Okay Africa, Highsnobiety, Vogue Australia, Hybe Beast, Vice, and Interview Magazine.
In 2018, he was commissioned by Dutch streetwear brand Patta and Nike on the occasion of their collaboration, to shoot a campaign for their launch which was exhibited in London. In the same year, he co-photographed the increasingly ascendant culture of boundary-breaking fashion in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, for the New York Times. In 2019, he had a solo collaborative exhibition at Corosia Theatre and Expo and Film Centre in Amsterdam about the Gothics Scene in Lagos.
Stephen Tayo was commissioned by the Ngola Art Festival in São Tomé to shoot the campaign image for the Festival. Asides from that, he was included in the exhibition City Prince/sses at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. He spotlighted the emergence of New Sound in the Nigerian Music Scene for the New York Times in August titled “The New Guard of Nigerian Music”. He was also shortlisted amongst 14 other photographers around the world for a book feature by Antwaun Sargent titled The New Black Vanguard with an exhibition at Aperture Gallery in 2019.
In 2020, Tayo was nominated for the British Fashion Council Awards 2020, in the “New Wave” category. He developed a project with Apple on stories of the pandemic and also shot a campaign with musician Skepta in Cuba with Havana Club, which is currently being used on billboards across the UK.
Stephen Tayo shot the campaign photo for the Now Look Here exhibition in Amsterdam, in collaboration with Jan Hoek.
