In 2021, photographer Charlotte Yonga was invited to an artist residency program in Senegal with a theme of “love.” Spending a month with this word in mind, Yonga took an intuitive approach to image-making, creating a tender series of photographs documenting the people and land around her. Back in Europe, Yonga received a text from one of her subjects: “Naam Na La.” The Wolof expression translates to “I long for you,” striking a chord for Yonga. “These words echoed with Love as it moves me and as I had unconsciously wanted to reveal it,” she explains. “Love experienced through its feeling of immensity and eternity as much as through its inconsistency, lack of and flaws. The Love that can also be uncertened, troubled or ambivalent, surrounded by oceanic views and decors metaphorizing hope, promises, fecundity and infinity.”

Charlotte Yonga lives and works in Barcelona, Spain, Paris, and France.

See more from “Naam Na La” below!