About Us
Tender Photos is a platform for African photography and visual storytelling. Co-founded by critic and curator Emmanuel Iduma and the novelist and editor Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Tender Photos has developed an extensive network of photographers, writers, curators, and editors. We work with a growing list of partners to develop cross-disciplinary projects using photography and visual storytelling as a starting point.
We publish narratives about the people, places, and events pictured in photographs, promote the creative work of visual storytellers, and offer media products that contribute to nuanced and layered perceptions of the continent. Our mission is to use digital technologies to expand access to visual literacy about the African continent.
Contact us to discuss potential collaborations.
View our partnership document here.
Some of our recent initiatives include:
- The Tender Photo newsletter: The flagship project of the platform, Tender Photo was launched as a weekly newsletter authored by Emmanuel in February 2022. From then until August 2025, we featured the work of over 170 photographers, championing their ideas about photography and ensuring they are discoverable by a global photography community of over 4500 subscribers.
- Editorial Fellowship: Open to writers and curators, the yearly fellowship enables creatives to explore projects at the intersections of photography, literature, and art criticism.
- Tender Visions: In partnership with the Open Society Foundations, we launched Tender Visions in May 2025, a new cross-disciplinary commissioning and publishing program for photographers and writers based on the African continent.
- Exhibitions: Photographs from our archive have been presented at the What Is Happening Here gallery in Amsterdam, and in the 2025 edition of the LagosPhoto Festival.
- Image Store: Working directly with photographers, we are able to licence rights-managed photographs for editorial use with simple pricing.
tender photos
Tender Photos supports photographers and visual storytellers on the African continent.
projects@tender.photo