There are those photographers who develop a style so unmistakably their own that it’s easily recognizable. Yannis Davy Guibinga is one of those photographers. For Guibinga, the key to creating that unique aesthetic is all about his concept. “I look at my photos as small stories that are part of the same bigger universe. It's just a matter of what kind of story and in what way can I expand the universe,” he explains. “I have to ask myself, ‘How can I add to that universe with the limitations I have set for myself?’”

“I have to ask myself, ‘How can I add to that universe with the limitations I have set for myself?”

The Montreal-based photographer focuses on the stories that he believes many neglect to tell. More specifically, he’s interested in using his camera as a glimpse into the lush history and culture of the African diaspora. The resulting images often showcase Black people in front of solid splashes of brilliant color. “I’m interested in creating fantasy, but with information, especially from smaller stories from smaller communities.”

The series The First Woman, for example, features an ethereal woman in a voluminous, delicate dress trekking up mountains of gray rocks and red cinder blocks, all while being cared for by her shirtless male companion. The scenes (perfected in post-production using Adobe Photoshop’s Contrast slider and Vibrance tool) are inspired by the Dinka people, originally from South Sudan, and the mythological tale of Abuk. This divine creature, according to Dinka folklore, was the first woman to walk the earth and spent her days with her husband searching for a path back to heaven.

Two images from The First Woman series

Another series called The Darkest Colour marks Guibinga’s rare abandonment of color to turn his attention to the cultural significance of blackness. It stars a dark-skinned Black couple who meld into the  black backdrop, with the only other color the whites of their eyes and the brown palms of their hands. “It’s about how, in a lot of cultures, the color black is about death. It’s almost always seen as a tragedy,” Guibinga says. The Darkest Colour challenges black’s negative connotations. It demonstrates that “black can be a depiction of softness and ease.”

Two images from The Darkest Colour series.

Guibinga has been gathering the cultural commentary that defines his work for tens of years, beginning when he relocated from his native France to be raised in Gabon, a small country in central Africa. One day Guibinga and a couple of friends were bored, so Guibinga picked up a friend’s  camera and staged an impromptu photo shoot . “And then we started doing it every weekend,” he recalls. 

The self-taught photographer moved to Canada in 2013 to attend school at the University of Toronto, but it wasn’t until he moved to Montréal to attend photography school at Marsan College that he learned photography could be a full-time career. “Not only that it's possible to be a photographer, but that it's possible to be a photographer doing my specific kind of photography,” he remembers.

“A Black photographer shooting the cover of Vogue is still a really big deal.”

Today, Guibinga continues to expand on his African-inspired universe, noting that creative leaders should take more action to amplify diverse perspectives throughout mainstream photography. “A Black photographer shooting the cover of Vogue is still a really big deal,” Guibinga says. He says that while the largest institutions continue to act as reference points, they’re not always leaders in  creativity or innovation. 

“The fact that diversity is now a cultural trend, I’m really interested in contributing to the platforms that give actual agency to Africans,” Guibinga says. “Who are the people that are actually curating and owning the platforms? That’s when it won’t be just a trend anymore.”