Mouhamed Yaye Traore (b. 1995, Djougou, Benin), photographer, lives in Italy, in the province of Arezzo.

“Ever since I was a child, I have always been very creative. I enjoyed observing, learning, and marveling at the beauty, strangeness, and simplicity of the things I came into contact with. In 2016, during my stay in reception centers in the province of Arezzo, I became passionate about art thanks to artistic residencies and meetings with school students organized by the STAND UP FOR AFRICA project at HYmmo art lab in Pratovecchio. To deepen my passion, I turned to photography, which gave me a new way to express my feelings, desires, and the unspoken. This is how the idea was born to highlight the extraordinary beauty, strength, resilience, and richness of the human body, self-awareness, through a series of self-portraits exploring the identity of Black people. In my photos, I love to concentrate the light on various forms, aiming for beauty and strangeness; the lived story that captures the viewer’s soul, giving a personal perception. Each of my shots evokes my state of mind regarding the dramatic story I’ve lived, creating a moment of reflection on a history that is unknown and that I seek to tell, with its shadows and lights.”

In 2018, he attended a photography course led by the artist Mohamed Keita at the Pecci Museum in Prato.
In 2020, he took a storytelling course with Robin Hommand, founder of the 1000 Dreams project. Between 2022 and 2024, he exhibited his photographs at group exhibitions: Artists for Peace, at Bevagna Castle (Perugia), and Out of Place, organized by the Imago Mundi Foundation in Treviso, as well as a collective exhibition on the theme of cohabitation organized as part of Florence Must Act. The artist’s photographs were also temporarily exhibited at Villa Pettini, in Montevarchi, during the first stop of the traveling exhibition Nomad Art Space.

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