Yagazie Emezi is a Nigerian artist and self-taught photojournalist focused on stories surrounding African women and their health, sexuality, education and human rights. Having worked extensively across Africa, Yagazie also covers stories on identity and culture, social justice, climate change and migration.
Her art practice uses photography and sculpture to construct visual critiques of Nigeria’s socio-political state and the roles media play in it, pulling from history and current events.
She began her journey in 2015 and has since worked with Al-Jazeera, New York Times, Vogue, Newsweek, Inc. Magazine, TIME, The Guardian, Washington Post, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Weather Channel, New York Times Magazine and several not-for-profit organizations. After ten months in Monrovia, Liberia (2017) documenting the impact of education for girls in at-risk communities, Yagazie returned to her ongoing project Re-learning Bodies which explores how trauma survivors, outside the narrative of violence and abuse, adapt to their new bodies while marking the absence of an effusive culture around body positivity as a noteworthy cultural phenomenon. Through 2018 – 2019, Yagazie documented patrols at sea through Liberia, Gabon and Namibia with the non-profit Sea Shepherd, recording government efforts to protect marine wildlife from Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) activities.
Yagazie is a recipient of the 2018 inaugural Creative Bursary Award from Getty Images. A participant for the 2018 New York Portfolio Review, she has also been featured by British Journal of Photography, Huffington Post, i-D, Nieman Reports, Paper Magazine, Vogue, CNN and The Washington Post. In November of 2018, she received a grant from the U.S Consulate General in Lagos for her photo-series addressing the reality of sexual violence against women and the vulnerable young in Nigeria. In 2019, she became the first black African woman to photograph for National Geographic Magazine and is a National Geographic Explorer Grantee. Yagazie was among the 2019 inaugural artists selected for Kehinde Wiley’s art residency at Black Rock, Senegal and is a 2019 nominee to the prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. She is a contributor to Everyday Africa and a member of its advisory board. In 2020, she became a Canon ambassador and is a 2021 mentor at the Women Photograph 2021 Mentorship Program.
Yagazie is based between Nigeria and USA and is available for assignments.
