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What we love about him

is how inclusive he is.

Meet photographer and filmmaker Rete Poki @retepoki born and brought up in Nigeria – now working out of Cape Town, South Africa.

His photography captures the essence of emotion in time. Looking through his work, I felt taken away to many different emotive places. You can tell the amount of thought and care that goes into the work of Rete Poki, based on the variety of styles he uses while keeping the cohesion of his main message.

“I think my creative process generally starts with picking an idea or sensation that I’d like to explore or personify. That can come from being frustrated with the events around me or forgetting my bus card after waiting an hour at the bus stop. I enjoy taking those little day-to-day moments and sorta repurposing the emotions I felt for my projects”

What we love about him is how inclusive he is.

“I love collaborating and working with teams because I feel as though the scope of ideas and influences grows and makes the final images even more meaningful and nuanced”

“I try my best to use my platforms and tools to highlight stories or narratives which might otherwise be ignored and neglected. While I do enjoy and make a point to make work that’s purely for my own amusement every now and then, I’ve never been completely comfortable with the idea of solely making and profiting from “art for art’s sake”. I’d love to be in a position where the proceeds from the work I make go directly to the communities whose experiences I’m drawing from. I also recognize just how difficult it is to access the tools and resources necessary to make photographs and films so I would love to directly, and indirectly, open or highlight channels that allow more people to explore and succeed within this industry. Kinda like a creative pyramid scheme”

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