What flower could signal the end of one life and the beginning of another? Could he call any of this the beginning of a life? Could he call these past months living? They felt like a dissolving, like a dissolving of the self into this landscape, into this garden where he stood, into the air and the trees and the sky, so that the vital forces of his life may be absorbed by the earth itself and pain may have no substantive place in his heart anymore.

Visule did not wait to be solicited. To collaborate with sitters he approaches them. He lingers with them. His camera often not visible. People would have to wait for him to share that he was a photographer. For most of our time together that morning in Arderne Gardens, Visule carried his cameras inside his bag. I had asked to observe him photograph and join a visit he would make to the Garden.

Visule Kabunda engages the garden as a dynamic site of emotional reflection, mutual care, and decolonial practice in post-apartheid South Africa. Grounded in the gardening practices of Black communities living in South Africa, this work examines how gardening offers important insights into how communities might ethically relate to land, memory, and one another.

I creep into the city at dusk. I have not been here for many years. Years or decades? I cannot tell, but when I see her, I will know how long it has been. Every city carries a distinct feeling like every human carries a unique scent and when I return to Casablanca it feels the same; old grandeur, stale smoke and the sense that everything is changing.

The most outstanding characteristic of Yasmine Hatimi’s photography is its compelling sense of place. Her work highlights Moroccan communities in a manner that is realist and unadorned yet full of tender experiments: shades, gazes, stark architecture. Leaping beyond her previous projects on Moroccan masculinity and culture, her new portfolio of images offers a unique interiority. 

The ruins give way to renewal, to the promise of progress, to the shimmering face of a country in motion. I tell myself not to judge, only to witness. Yet questions echo within me, doubts gather in the silence. I should rejoice at this vision of growth, I should feel pride—but something falters, a dissonant note, a bitter taste I cannot ignore.

This photo was taken in Abidjan, two days before the end of a skate tour organized by SurfGhana in October 2022. The goal of the tour, lasting a little over a week, was to bring together Ghanaian and Ivorian skate communities. I was tasked with documenting the journey. Initially, I was just going to take a group photo with all the skaters, but I am fascinated by movements. By instinct, I started moving my camera, getting closer to try to capture less frozen, less sought-after moments.

I captured this portrait of my parents in 2015. My aim was to explore the complexity of relationships and the challenges of communication, while highlighting the attachment and family values of my parent’s generation. During that time, I enjoyed performing in front of the camera, using simple props around the house to stage scenes. I liked to focus on personal narratives, relying on natural light and my DSLR camera.

This week, we are highlighting portraits from our inaugural year. We invite newer subscribers to learn more about talented photographers who have contributed to the Tender Photo newsletter. Features by our current editorial fellows will return next week.

The image is instantly recognizable to anyone who has done any roadside shopping in the CBD, where vendors and the city inspectorate are regularly engaged in a battle for control of sidewalks and paved pathways.

NOIR 40 is restrained and intimate, quite minimalistic and close to the skin. I set aside all accessories used in earlier works. Contrasts remain, but white exists only within black—to express Black identity in its purest, most intimate form and reveal the individuality of the sitter. My aim is to deconstruct and break stereotypes about the identity of the black woman by showing her dignity and inner strength.

This photograph was taken in the village of Ozaga, Ait Heddou Youssef in the heart of the Atlas Mountains. It is a part of my first series, «A journey into nature where time stops to play», a project that reflects my inner child by documenting the daily lives of Amazigh children.

At the LagosPhoto Festival, Tender Photos has curated Kindred, a constellation of 24 photographs and texts featured in the newsletter archive of Tender Photos. Showing an asynchronous cascade of images and blocks of text on both walls, viewers are invited to match an image with its corresponding caption.

Tender Visions is a new cross-disciplinary commissioning program for photographers and writers based on the African continent, produced by Tender Photos and supported by funding from the Open Society Foundations. 13 photographers have been commissioned to produce new work within their communities, guided by predefined themes, and in collaboration with 26 writers, who are to write original creative or critical responses to the photographic projects.

It has been a pleasure to feature the work of the Tender Photo Editorial Fellows during the past few months. Five writers based on the African continent have worked with the cofounders of Tender Photos, Emmanuel Iduma and Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, to initiate and facilitate correspondence with the featured photographers.