Doyle Wham proudly presents the first UK solo exhibition of Yannis Davy Guibinga, a celebrated photographer from Libreville, Gabon, who is currently based in Montreal, Canada. Renowned for his storytelling prowess, Guibinga is passionately committed to rewriting outdated narratives about Africa, demonstrating the multiplicity of identities and stories that co-exist. His research-based practice is grounded in the exploration and re-imagination of mythologies from the continent, particularly from Western and Central Africa.
His new exhibition, Children of Distant Suns, is a collection of visual stories which extends this approach. The artist not only draws inspiration from folklore but weaves mythological strands to create an imaginary location, Shira Island, in which these disparate legends can thrive together, even alongside biblical tales. In this way, Guibinga demonstrates how myths have a global resonance and relevance that transcends their geographical and cultural origins – with the same themes and figures recurring under different names.
Image courtesy of Artist
Guibinga honours the cultural richness of water spirits throughout Western Africa in two new series: OLOKUN and Daughter of the Lake, which reinterpret the Yoruba deity Olokun and the mermaid goddess Mami Wata respectively. Depicting these figures through a hyper-contemporary lens, the artist highlights their flexibility of identity and offers a vision for the modern preservation of these important cultural cornerstones.
The artist also debuts for the first time two series, Melting Daylight and Tangled Sins, that explore Christian themes and reimagine its iconography. Melting Daylight considers the significance of the sun and sunsets within systems of belief, for example as evidence of the natural beauty of God’s creation, while Tangled Sins mines the rich biblical symbolism of the serpent to explore humanity’s relationship with vices. The sinuous twists of the serpent mirror the intricate and inescapable dance between desire and restraint, seduction and resistance, that has inspired so many foundational myths across religions and cultures.
Throughout this exhibition, Guibinga calls for us to reflect on our relationship to myth and divinity. He asks us to consider the points of connection between our beliefs and our stories, and to remember their power: as sources of inspiration, aspiration, morality, and even envy. He poses the question: how can these foundational stories be understood today and to what extent is a new visual vocabulary required? With this in mind, the artist’s proposition of Shira Island is just the first step in a commitment to inclusive and unconstrained world-building.
Image courtesy of the artist
ABOUT YANNIS DAVY GUIBINGA | @YANNISDAVY
Yannis Davy Guibinga is an internationally celebrated 28 year old photographer from Libreville, Gabon, currently based in Montreal, Canada. He has a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) from the University of Toronto and is currently completing a graduate program and writing a thesis on the social impact of African photography on the global cultural landscape.
Guibinga has established himself as a leading academic voice in photography, from giving a TED talk the social impact of photography on the African continent, to participating in prestigious photography competitions as a juror – most recently a National Arts Juror for the American Scholastic Award (February 2022), a judge for the AD&D Photography Award (April 2022) and for the Indigenous Innovative Solutions Photo Contest (April 2022). He has also participated in panels and presentations at Art Expo Chicago, Art Basel Miami and Art Basel Unlimited in Switzerland, with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts amongst others.
He has exhibited internationally at Art Basel in Switzerland, in New York at the Aperture Gallery, Chicago at Art Expo Chicago and the DuSable Museum, Saatchi Gallery and Somerset House in London, AKAA Art Fair and Les Rencontres D’Arles in France, and more. His brand collaborations include Apple, Google, Adobe and Nikon.
Press coverage of the artist’s work includes features in The Economist, The BBC, Radio France International, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, Something Curated, Colossal, Surface Magazine, Okay Africa, Aesthetica Magazine (cover shoot) and Paper Journal.
ABOUT DOYLE WHAM | @DOYLEWHAM
Doyle Wham is the UK’s first and only contemporary African photography gallery. Founded in 2020 with an itinerant programme of physical and digital exhibitions, Doyle Wham launched its permanent London location in February 2022. Doyle Wham is dedicated to celebrating photography in all of its forms and to developing the global infrastructure for contemporary African photography through regular exhibitions, events and international collaborations, the introduction of new artists, and building a robust collector-base. The intersection of photography and culture, including fashion, art and music, is a particular focus of the programme. The gallery’s represented artists include Angèle Etoundi Essamba, Trevor Stuurman, Yannis Davy Guibinga, Denisse Ariana Pérez, Morgan Otagburuagu, Puleng Mongale and Water Dixon.
