Stephen Tayo on both sides of the lens
Stephen always stands out, with his work and for his personal style, both of which are characterised by his striking use of colour and experimentation with print. Photographer Coco Olakunle and I caught up with him at his apartment in Lagos during the lockdown.
I met Stephen four years ago at Lagos Photo, where he was showing his work for the first time. He was as excited as anyone would be in his shoes, and humbled to have been selected for inclusion by cultural genius Azu Nwabogu, the festival’s founder. Stephen was discussing his process with a group of onlookers, and explaining how using an iPhone instead of a dedicated camera was less intimidating for his subjects and as a result allowed him to better connect with them, which is something he found really important. His work had caught my attention because of its almost documentarian approach to style; the photographs were clearly staged yet looked natural. Stephen and I bonded straightaway, thanks to our shared love of fashion and of streetwear in particular.
Today, four years and a pandemic later, Stephen is now an internationally renowned photographer, with exhibitions and assignments across the globe, frequent inclusion in photography books, regular spreads in magazines and countless features in fashion blogs. One of his recent commissions was for the Johnny Walker campaign, for which he photographed Africa’s most popular recording artist Burna Boy and his mother. I consider Tayo one of the most talented young photographers working today, and an archetype of the self- taught creative, whose life is necessarily defined by hard work, dedication, networking and a strong online presence.
We meet Stephen outside his apartment block on Lagos Island, and he takes us upstairs to an apartment beautifully decorated with plants, framed art on gallery white walls and stacks of magazines. Coco had brought along her Mamiya, an old school analogue camera that was perfect for the setting. When Stephen realises she’s brought it along to shoot him, he excuses himself and rushes to his bedroom to get changed. What was meant to be a brief chat about work soon turns into a mini-fashion show, with Stephen striking one iconic pose after another for Coco while we chat about the international creative industry and life as a self-employed professional.
Though already successful as a photographer, Stephen continues to burn with ambition. “One of the disadvantages I’ve had to overcome is not attending art school,” he says. This is something he and
Coco share; both learned by doing. We talk about the freedom to experiment and create new work offered by art grants, and Stephen tells us that such support remains lacking in Nigeria. And then there’s the matter of who receives whatever support is available from the foreign funding bodies. “When you look at who gets awarded grants, you discover that they all went to art school.”
Stephen continues to pose for Coco as we move onto the subject of commissions. “When I’m hired for assignments, I find they often want me to repeat something I’ve already done.” He recalls the time an Italian fashion house commissioned him for a shoot, but then brought up his work from 2016 as a reference. “I want to create new work and experiment with different styles, but how do I do that if commercial clients keep asking for the same things?” Coco asks Stephen to move to the hallway for the light.
The two years of lockdown haven’t been the most exciting for Stephen, the pandemic putting a freeze on international commissions. Business in Nigeria has been slow too, which he blames not on the pandemic but rather on the mindset of those who call the shots. ”I had just one gig here during the pandemic.”
A cover shoot for Native Mag in June. “There’s constant access to the arts in the Netherlands, with gallery and museum events throughout the year, which is invaluable for Dutch artists. Here, the only exhibitions that matter take place in December — the cultural season — and even then the main focus is not on local artists, but on international ones; we [local artists] are merely an afterthought.” He explains that local art institutions often assume that local artists can’t tell universal stories, “...and think they already know what stories local artists are going to tell.”
Coco snaps away as we move from the hallway back to the living room. Stephen grabs a few magazines from among the several piles and shows us some of his work. He speaks proudly of a shoot he did in the Congo Republic with Sapeur women. “These women are often used as props by foreign tourists. So I really wanted to connect with them and get their story in my frame.” People in places like Lagos and Brazzaville aren’t keen on having their picture taken by strangers without their permission, so both Stephen and Coco always take the time to get to know the people they’re shooting. “As a photographer, you have to be sure to convey what you’re trying to capture and why you’re doing so, especially given the cultural dynamics and elements of heritage at play here,” Stephen explains. Which is why spends a lot of time just walking around the places he hopes to shoot in and talking to people, “I note things down, think of how I want to tell the story and what makes me ‘me’ in that story.”
Despite his criticisms of the creative industry, Stephen is optimistic about his future and is using the pandemic as an opportunity to work on the sort of projects he normally wouldn’t have the time for. Among these is one that’s quite personal. “It features my mom and grandmom, and it means a lot to me because my mom has only recently taken an interest in my work,” he says. This apparently began when she saw evidence of his development as a photographer. Stephen has to travel to his hometown in Ekiti State for the project. “I want the work to be shot in context, because it’s important for the story. I’m also using this time to research my own background and the context I grew up in.”
Stephen reclines on his eye-catching blue couch and poses for the last few shots before we wrap things up. This is one photographer as comfortable in front of the camera as he is behind it. A photographer happy to be another photographer’s muse for the afternoon.
Words: Carmen Hogg
Photography: Coco Olakunle
Edit: Siji Jabbar
