Born in 1996, Aurélie Jocelyne Tiffy is a young photographer from Côte d’Ivoire. In 2015, she obtained a diploma in accounting, but her real passion being artistic photography and audiovisual production, she decided to switch gears and specialize in vizual communication and post-production graphic design. In 2018, she had her first exhibition during the 13th Biennale of Dak’Art in Senegal, in Off with the African Federation of Photographic Art (FAAP). In 2019, she exhibits at the African Biennale of Photography / Bamako Encounters and in 2020 at the Donwahi Foundation.Aurélie uses black whites photography as a way to highlight the daily courage, determination, but also wealth and difficulties of her countrymen.
What important lessons have you learnt in your journey through photography?
I learned that one cannot tell stories about the world without having curiosity and passion.This curiosity will lead one to find subjects, to want to tell stories about what intrigues us, to have a sense of contact, and also to cultivate ourselves. Practice is the only way to perfect yourself as a photographer to get out of our comfort zone.
You choose to document contemporary issues in your city, why is this important to you?
I see photography as a tool for testimonials, and information dissemination. Today we realize the importance and power of this tool. From the beginning, it was a matter of trying by all means, to raise awareness of certain situations and to provoke reactions from people. These are realities that affect me as well as those around me, as a photographer I am obliged to document current events from my perspective.
I learned that one cannot tell stories about the world without having curiosity and passion.This curiosity will lead one to find subjects, to want to tell stories about what intrigues us, to have a sense of contact, and also to cultivate ourselves. Practice is the only way to perfect yourself as a photographer to get out of our comfort zone.
You choose to document contemporary issues in your city, why is this important to you?
I see photography as a tool for testimonials, and information dissemination. Today we realize the importance and power of this tool. From the beginning, it was a matter of trying by all means, to raise awareness of certain situations and to provoke reactions from people. These are realities that affect me as well as those around me, as a photographer I am obliged to document current events from my perspective.
How do you build trust with the people whom you photograph?
Most people are not comfortable being photographed.My role is to give them confidence and reassurance, by taking an interest in their lives, and making them understand that they often have the right to be different.I try to spend as much time as possible with the subjects of my stories.
What inspires you?
My inspiration comes from society, my surroundings and my experiences.
What do you hope to accomplish through your images?
Through out my images I want to be able to share my sensitivity, bring a feminine aspect and to be able to leave a testimony about my time
Most people are not comfortable being photographed.My role is to give them confidence and reassurance, by taking an interest in their lives, and making them understand that they often have the right to be different.I try to spend as much time as possible with the subjects of my stories.
What inspires you?
My inspiration comes from society, my surroundings and my experiences.
What do you hope to accomplish through your images?
Through out my images I want to be able to share my sensitivity, bring a feminine aspect and to be able to leave a testimony about my time
