His specialised communication using colours, emotions and pictures stays as the building block to the photographer’s rise.
I’m trying to capture unthought-of perspectives every time I’m behind the camera. It’s the TSE magic.
Interview: TSE Is the Photographer Capturing Lagos’ New Aesthetic, okayafrica.com
Thompson S. Ekong ‘TSE’ aka Eye of the Culture, is the Lagos-based Nigerian photographer owning his youth, visions and African identity which he transmits onto his art.
From the onset of his early teens to the present in his mid-20s, TSE has always possessed a unique flair of his own. Having humble equipment at the dawn of his career was also not a setback for him. In an interview with Pulse in 2017, he shares a story from the very beginning where his pictures were selected for an editorial from a shoot he had alongside other photographers. This accomplishment was made despite his twinge of embarrassment because of his small camera.
More remarkable is the fact that TSE is a self-taught photographer. As a black creative in a global society which tends to have an unfavourable disposition to dark skin, he makes sure to infuse the black and African experience into his images for representation.
I want to always just have the voice and tools needed to touch lives of Africans and everyone. That’s what my work will say: Africa spoke and I was a brand and a creative that helped spread Africa’s voice visually around the world, a mouthpiece for the kids ‘cause I broke every wall that kept us limited in Africa right now.
MEET THOMPSON S. EKONG, THE OPINIONATED NIGERIAN PHOTOGRAPHER ELEVATING AFRICA, hungertv.com
Over the years in various interviews, he has stated his influences to be Steve Jobs, Kanye West, Lakin Ogunbanwo, Skepta, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Santi, Daniel Arsham, UAX, Appare-Ranman!, Studio Ghibli, Niyi Okeowo and his friends.
With an art style that expresses humanity and preaches individuality, our eyes, hearts and minds are met with a striking aesthetic found nowhere else.
The understanding of humanity is my lust in art.
The Fine Art of Photography; Thompson Ekong, businessofphotography.net
TSE’s photography is definitely one to set eyes, minds and hearts on.
