stunning photo series ‘things i won’t forget’ from offers a new lens on cultural preservation

For any colonized people, maintaining ties to history and origin become a sort of ongoing pilgrimage, and a powerful basis of creation.

Thankfully, with projects like artist Yannis Davy Guibinga’s latest ‘Things I won’t forget’, audiences are gifted a “visual metaphor” for the necessity of cultural reclamation and preservation in “increasingly Westernized” African communities.

Drawing from the root, Guibinga beautifully captures a genuine richness and strength—translating a cause through his model’s deeply toned skin and setting a stark contrast of a white splatter-painted backdrop. By doing so, the artist illuminates the subject with acute detail, and she stands strong and permanent in her place.

Though the continent as a whole still finds itself navigating the tyrannical residue of colonialism, the art of cultural reclamation is a daily practice among many African citizens and creatives alike. With artistic statements like ‘Things I won’t forget’, a new generation of identity and thought is curated, issuing both a mode of expression and a release from the chains of predetermination.

To preserve is to honor, and to honor is to prove a worth, and who better to prove worthy than one’s own culture and self?

Yannis Davy Guibinga makes this worthiness spread through a visual tapestry representing culture, heritage, and history, all while setting a new standard of African identity,

Check out the subtle power of ‘Things I won’t forget’ below!