Mofe Bamuyiwa is a portrait photographer based in Lagos, Nigeria, who works from her own studio, BMB Studio, under the Instagram name @mofebamuyiwa. Her pictures are carefully lit studio portraits, usually built with a small team of make-up artists, hair stylists and wardrobe designers, and often lit with a single strong light. She photographs brides, models, children and people whose looks are rarely celebrated in mainstream beauty imagery: people with albinism, a woman with burn scars, a young man with freckles.
Her work reached a global audience in July 2018, when her portraits of a five-year-old girl, Jare Ijalana, spread online and news sites began calling the child "the most beautiful girl in the world". That label says more about viral headlines than about photography. What makes Bamuyiwa's portraits worth a closer look is the craft: the colour choices, the styling drawn from Nigerian traditions, and the way she lets each subject's character lead the picture.
Below is a selection of her Instagram posts from 2016 to 2018, with notes on who and what each one shows. The series of Jare and her sisters comes at the end.
Studio portraits and light tests
This December 2017 headshot began as a simple lighting test with a hard strobe. The model, @adebimpe_aj, also appears in the credits of later shoots as an assistant, and Bamuyiwa did the make-up herself. Her caption urged women to stop worrying about other people's opinions and try the idea that excites them.
A February 2017 "Woman Crush Wednesday" portrait of @olayodejuliana, styled by @kiksplace with make-up by Iposh Looks. Iposh Looks, run by Bamuyiwa's studio colleague Dammy, does the make-up on many of the shoots in this collection.
The "Toyo baby" tag suggests the same sitter returns in March 2017 for a lighter, smiling portrait. Bamuyiwa's portfolio is not all drama and symbolism; many sessions are straightforward studio portraits of happy clients.
Posted in July 2017, this close-up is about the eyes: warm hazel irises framed by soft make-up from @deeqlooks. Bamuyiwa often tags her work with notes on eye colour and skin tone, the details she builds a portrait around.
Two years of portraits of make-up artist @deeqlooks led to this deliberately bolder June 2018 session, with vivid coloured hair and smoky make-up by @lily.glam. It was also a birthday shoot. One light and a fill board created the punchy contrast.
A March 2017 beauty shot with metallic lips and striking eye make-up, created by Enugu-based artist @sweettamara_ on model @queennanci. Collaborations with make-up artists from other Nigerian cities are a regular part of Bamuyiwa's studio work.
Albinism and skin tone
Titled "Zeus: the gods around us", this April 2018 portrait shows model @tiyetboy, who has albinism, with the post also tagging @oam_foundation. Albinism is an inherited lack of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. In parts of Africa it still brings stigma and even danger, which is why positive, dignified images matter.
Model @thewhitemelanin, styled with make-up by @beautybytejj, appears under the caption "Does beauty have a price to pay?" (November 2017). The portrait invites viewers to think about how skin tone shapes the way people are judged.
Shared on 13 June 2018, International Albinism Awareness Day, this artwork uses body paint that appears to crack away from the model's skin. The caption gives voice to a person with albinism tired of fighting for acceptance, ending with the plea "take me as I am". Body painting was by @officialyarofashionandart.
Brides and northern Nigerian styles
An October 2017 bridal portrait of @fadeelahimam with make-up by @dazeita, tagged as Fulani and northern bridal inspiration. The Fulani are a large, mostly Muslim pastoral people spread across West Africa, and their bridal styling features rich gold jewellery and intricate face decoration.
One of the oldest posts here, from July 2016, this Fulani- and Hausa-inspired bridal look was built on a set designed to evoke a particular mood, with modest fashion supplied by @modestmuslimahlounge and model @xterberry. Bamuyiwa wrote that she had more ideas to share about the beauty of today's women.
"Valentina", posted on the eve of Valentine's Day 2018, combines a wedding dress, red roses and soft light. Model Lani of Pages Model was styled by a full team, from bridal wear to jewellery and flowers, a reminder of how collaborative studio portraiture is.
Fashion, history and art projects
For a 2018 Mother's Day campaign with Vlisco, the Dutch company famous for its African wax-print fabrics, Bamuyiwa photographed singer Chioma Okereke, who performed the campaign's theme song "Mummy mo". Wax prints, though first produced in Europe, have become a defining part of West African fashion.
"Adire" (July 2018) celebrates the indigo resist-dyed cloth of the Yoruba women of Abeokuta, in Ogun State. Mothers taught the patterns to their daughters for generations, and the craft also brought women together as a community and a trade. Model @olubusola_bembzi wears beads and adire-inspired styling by Bamuyiwa.
Inspired by her reading on ancient Africa, this May 2017 editorial imagines a young woman serving in a pharaoh's court. Bamuyiwa's caption places the kingdom of Kush in Egypt; in fact Kush lay to the south, in Nubia (today's Sudan), and its kings ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty. The model is @laratreazure.
Another image from her 2017 "Middle Eastern inspiration" series, with dramatic make-up by @brehga, whom Bamuyiwa discovered through her humorous Instagram tutorials. The model is Anita of Pages Model.
"And so there is a black flower that blooms" (July 2018) features model @thekemiamusan with sculpted hair by @hairkarved. The poetic title is typical of how Bamuyiwa frames her art pieces.
Scars, strength and character
In January 2018, Bamuyiwa photographed @stainlessdesire, a survivor of a gas explosion, with her scars clearly visible. The caption, written in the subject's voice, says the scars recall the past but do not define who she is. It is one of the most powerful portraits in the collection.
"What's left of me" (July 2017) shows @snow_white_sister, whom Bamuyiwa first noticed in a bridal video. She asked for an expression mixing pain and strength, and real tears followed. The artistic make-up is by @bregha.
@titikuti booked simple Polaroid-style headshots in July 2018, but Bamuyiwa saw something more in his freckles and hair and asked him to wear a handmade crown inspired by the crucifix. She has written that she is "not the best curator" of her own work, but trusts what she sees as beautiful.
Jare and the J3 Sisters
This July 2018 portrait of Jare Ijalana is the image that went viral. Jare, then five, is the youngest of the J3 Sisters, alongside Jomi, 7, and Joba, 10, as reported by The Root. Bamuyiwa said she wanted to capture the meeting point of childhood and adulthood. Some online commenters wondered whether the images were digitally altered; the photographer presented them as studio portraits.
A week later she posted a portrait of Jomi, Jare's older sister, dressed in a grown-up style. Bamuyiwa wrote that, as a child, she too had wanted to wear her mother's shoes and clothes, and that Jomi followed directions better than she expected.
Preview photo credit: mofebamuyiwa / Instagram
Television and news sites around the world, including Indian broadcaster Mathrubhumi in the video above, picked up the story. Bamuyiwa told Yahoo Lifestyle that all she wanted was for everyone to see Jare's potential.
Looking past "the most beautiful" label
Viral headlines love rankings, but a portrait is not a beauty contest. Each image above is the result of choices: where the light falls, which fabric or jewellery tells a story, how close the camera comes to the face. The people photographed speak only for themselves; no collection can represent the looks or lives of an entire country, let alone a continent.
What Bamuyiwa's work does show is the range of Nigerian beauty and style, from Fulani bridal gold to Yoruba adire, and her readiness to put people with albinism or scars at the centre of a glamorous frame. When images of children go viral, it is also worth remembering that they are children first. Admire the photography, and leave the rankings aside.
Sources: All portraits by Mofe Bamuyiwa / BMB Studio (Instagram), with the make-up artists, stylists and models credited in each post; The Root, 30 July 2018; video via Mathrubhumi on Facebook. Earlier coverage: Bright Side.
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