Charlotte Yonga

Naam Na La, 2021–
Noun Valley, 2017 –

The title Naam Na La translates as I long for you, a work originally commissioned by the Blachère Foundation in Senegal, centring around the theme of love. The series takes us on a journey of a warm yet authentic depiction of human relationships with one another, and with nature.

The mix of landscape and portrait photography jumps from carefully staged images to snapshots. Photographing love can be a complicated business, a dilemma Yonga faces and tackles through nuanced presentations of love’s ambiguity.

A muted yet colourful palette enhances the subject matter by transporting us into vivid dreamscapes. Love has the potential to be uncertain, troubled, and ambivalent which is depicted through varied gestures, contrasting colours and settings. Naam Na La is paired with landscape images from the series Noun Valley, a declaration of love to her paternal home, Cameroon.

Charlotte Yonga (b. 1985 in Paris, France) lives and works between Paris and Barcelona.