Stephen Tayo is a modern Nigerian photographer who has gained popularity with his photos posted on Instagram. The photographer has been actively publishing street photos of Lagos people for the last few years.
Tayo’s photos reflect the artist’s daily life and show the people who live around him and create a diverse community. Tayo rejects traditional Western influences and draws inspiration from African culture.
As the artist talks to one of the publications, he wants his photos to inspire the need for dialogue and make people think about different topics. Including gender and sexuality.
Stephen Tayo was born in Lagos and he wanted to study anthropology, but because there was no such course at the University of Lagos, he decided to study philosophy. He always wanted to understand more about people and their nature, and this interest and study of philosophy led him to photography.
The artist started taking photos with the iPhone 5 and today he collaborates with such famous publications as; Vogue; The New York Times; Vice; Interview Magazine and Dazed.
His latest photo series What If? offers very interesting photos of drag artists from Lagos. The artist, through a series of photographs, seeks to explain what the world would be like without social and gender expectations and constraints, what it would be like for society to have more acceptance of drag culture.
