Nadine Ijewere (UK/NG/JM)

Southeast London-born photographer Nadine Ijewere’s work has appeared in the likes of i-D, Wall Street Journal and Vogue, for whom she became the first woman of colour to shoot a cover. She primarily photographs on the subject of identity and diversity, inspired by her Nigerian and Jamaican heritage.

 

While at school, Ijewere took up photography among her more serious A-level subjects of physics, chemistry, biology and maths. However, drawn to the creative field, she went on to study photography at UAL’s London College of Fashion . After graduating, Ijewere started working for an interior design company in Chelsea Harbour Design Centre, shooting her images in her spare time. She credits social media with helping build up relationships with her earlier collaborators, including the stylist Ibrahim Kamara , and casts models from Instagram.

 

She told British Vogue in 2018, “Of course, the conventional path would have involved getting a job as an assistant, but I had heard so many stories about assistants falling out of love with making pictures that I decided against it.”

 

The photographer has shot for various editions of i-D, Garage, WSJ. Magazine, Allure and British Vogue. Her cover story with Dua Lipa, Binx Walton and Letitia Wright made Ijewere the first woman of colour to shoot the cover of any Vogue edition in the magazine’s 125-year history.

 

In 2016, Ijewere’s work was featured in The Tate Britain Generation exhibition and at Unseen Amsterdam and Lagos Photo Festival in 2017. She has also worked with film and created campaigns for the likes of Stella McCartney , Valentino, Selfridges and The Gap. Ijewere is represented by CLM Agency.