Delali Ayivi

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Delali Ayivi is a Togolese and German photographer and a recent graduate from London College of Fashion/ UAL. Delali was born in the US in Baltimore but grew up in Germany. At the Age of 15 she moved to Lilongwe in Malawi where she lived until she was 18. After finishing high school, Delali moved to London to enrol at University of the Arts London.

Delali started by photographing her friends and Family in Germany, Togo and Malawi. Finding her great great grandfather´s work, one of the first Togolese photographers Alex A. Acolatse, inspired Delali to document other people with a focus on fashion.

In 2019, Delali started a project called “Togo Yeye” in collaboration with her friend Malaika Nabillah who lives in Lomé. Malaika and Delali find and work with innovative Togolese talent especially young fashion designers. In collaboration they create work that hopes to document and empower their creative community at home and in the diaspora.

In the past year, Delali has used the opportunity of an extended stay in Germany - due to the Covid Pandemic - to research into her own childhood experiences and the lives of other Black Germans. This research resulted into two relating series: “Heimat(In Quarantine)” and “Reflections on “Heimat””. Both series look at the idea of the German “Homeland” and the dual meaning this term has for people of colour in the country, resulting in a constant state between familiarity and dispute to their right to exist. Delali is currently based in Togo.

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