
Copyright of Ngadi Smart
Ngadi Smart
Illustrator and Visual Artist
Ngadi Smart is a West African Visual Artist, with a focus in Illustration and Photography.
Having lived and studied Art & Design in the U.K, Canada (at OCADU) and the Ivory Coast, she has also always had an interest in a broad spectrum of cultures and subcultures, as well as a love for connecting with people from all over the world.
That, combined with a love for the Arts, Fashion, and a lifelong obsession with documenting everything around her, has propelled her to start projects such as "The EyeMuse Project", a Photography and Illustration global project which aims to capture first hand the trends, culture and lifestyle of a city through the subject's intimate setting of choice.
Therefore, her work has long been focused on people's expression of Identity, notably self-Identity through Fashion, and as of late, Black sensuality from an African lens and point of view, always aiming to show as many representations of African people, and what it means to be African.
She has also recently photographed a series for the upcoming Ivorian edition of Nice Magazine (which is a Young African Photographers' collaborative magazine spearheaded by Photographer Flurina Rothenberger) on the social constructions surrounding African male and female identities. You can now catch her work published in MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, an anthology celebrating the work of 100 Women Photographers of African Descent, South Africa’s Livingspace Magazine (September 2018 Issue), and Gay Times Magazine (October 2018 issue).
Press
NGOZI COLE: 6 Inspiring African Photographers You Should Know
TRUE AFRICA: Ngadi Smart, the artist turning Abidjan street style and black sexuality into Pop Art
CNN: Here's what African millennials are really concerned about
BETWEEN 10AND5: Meet the ballsy African illustrators advocating sex positivity
ADUNA WORLD: Ngadi Smart: Identity, Feminism & Sexuality from an African lens
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: These Black Women are Carving out a Place in History
MATADOR NETWORK: These 14 women are shattering stereotypes of Africa one photo at a time
BUZZFEED: Here’s A Mesmerizing Look Into The Creative Minds Of Black Women
AFRICAN DIGITAL ART: Ngadi: Sierra Leonean Illustrator and Digital Artist
MASTERCARD FOUNDATION: Hope, Energy, and Ingenuity: Voices of African Youth
LIVINGSPACE MAGAZINE (PRINT) : Ngadi Smart, Freedom of expression
PHOTOVILLE: Foreseen: New Narratives from the African Photojournalism Database
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ghana’s first photo festival opens 12-21 September
CNN : The African Heroine Women Photographers you should be following
Exhibitions
THE NICE MAGAZINE LAUNCH: 22nd February 2018, Bao Café, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
AN AFRICAN LENS EXHIBIT, YALE UNIVERSITY: As part of Africa Salon, Yale’s Contemporary African Arts and Culture Festival: 6th - 23rd April 2018, Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut, USA
LUMIX FESTIVAL FOR YOUNG PHOTOJOURNALISM: 20th - 24th June 2018, Hannover, Germany
FORESEEN: NEW NARRATIVES FROM THE AFRICAN PHOTOJOURNALISM DATABASE: 13th - 23rd September 2018, at Photoville Festival, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
FORESEEN: NEW NARRATIVES FROM THE AFRICAN PHOTOJOURNALISM DATABASE: 12th-21st September 2018, Nuku Photo Festival, Accra, Ghana
UNSTILL LIFE: A PROJECTION OF WORK BY AFRICAN WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS AT PHOTO KATHMANDU: 12 October - 16 November 2018, Kathmandu, Nepal
VLISCO&CO COTE D’IVOIRE LAUNCH: 13th October 2018, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Awards
CAPIC's Rodeo 4 Competition Top 50 images (The Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators)