Photographer and storyteller Ernest Danjuma Enebi recently released his book Waka Waka in New York City. This debut photo book has an editorial style that is compelling and inviting journey through countries, like m Botswana, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda, among others.
“The book is about seeing Africa through a lens of presence instead of lack or potential,” said Enebi. “It’s an invitation to notice; like a visual poem dedicated to the ordinary dignity, humor, beauty, and resilience of everyday life.”
The 400-page book brings together over 20 years of photography by Enebi, who has traveled through 15 countries in Africa. The goal of the book was to reframe contemporary Africa through his photographic lens, from Lagos to Lamu, Khartoum and Dakar. The book features over 300 photographs and essays that offer a fresh perspective on African life, style and culture. In many ways, it’s a portrait of a continent in flux.
“One thing I tried to do in this book is, with the fashion pieces of the book, was to have fun with it,” he said.
Enebi, a New York–based Nigerian photographer who was born and raised in Kaduna, Nigeria, is the founder of a creative agency specializing in culture-focused storytelling called Denda Works. He says his work “captures the soul of contemporary African life,” with photos from remote villages to major cities, all framed with a humanistic touch and an eye for style and the legacy of how clothing is made.
“It starts with just how clothes are even made, right?” asks Enebi. “The people who make clothes and that’s part of our African heritage, from the women who make the fabric to the people who make the clothes, the tailors, and then seeing the clothing in action on people dressed to the nines.”
“This book celebrates every step and every person involved in fashion production,” he said. “Where it is before it ends up on a runway. It celebrates designers, old and new. It really is true to an element of what the book seeks to do, which is really celebrate contemporary African culture in this way that is grounded in both histories, but also the present and preserves it for the future.”
The book aims to see “Africa through its own lens,” according to Enebi.
It also has a sense of motion and wanderlust. “Whenever you travel, you learn something about yourself. It teaches you about the world. It teaches you about the place, the destination where you’re going. But ultimately, it teaches you by yourself, you know, and that’s how I’ve always traveled, and I always leave everywhere I’ve gone. All these places, I carry a piece of them with me everywhere I go. And you know, it’s beautiful to be able to tell their stories and bring it to life here.”
The book launch was recently held during New York Fashion Week at Awet New York City, a BIPOC-owned multiband concept store in SoHo and featured a talk moderated by Jessica Nabongo.
Waka Waka is on sale for $60 through the Denda Works website and is stocked at select bookstores in New York, Los Angeles, Lagos, London, Dakar, and Johannesburg.