Joana Choumali

Joana Choumali (born 1974) is a freelance photographer based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. She uses photography to explore issues of identity and the diversity of African cultures.

Her 2014 series, Hââbré, The Last Generation, documents the last generation of scarified Africans.

In 2019, she was awarded the Prix Pictet for her series Ça va aller (It will be OK).

Life and work Choumali was born and raised in Abidjan. After attending local international schools, she studied Graphic Arts in Casablanca and worked as an art director in an advertising agency before starting her photography career. Her style includes conceptual portraiture, mixed media and documentary. This experience inspired her 2014 portrait series, "Resilients", which documents young, professional African women who also struggled with connecting to their family's traditional past. The only requirement was that the women had to wear traditional clothing already worn by their grandmother or an older female relative, emphasizing the link between past and present.

In January 2025, a selection of Choumalis' work went on display at the Harvard Art Museums. Joana Choumali: Languages of West African Marketplaces features twelve hand-quilted and embroidered portraits of Ivory Coast market-goers. The portraits incorporate photographs of individuals, all of whom sport T-shirts bearing English sayings (e.g., "Female Equals Future," "All You Need Is Sparkle," and "Wonder Woman"). The exhibition highlights, among other things, Choumali's exploration of consumer goods (and the paths they take around the world), as well as the "dissonance" between bold, progressive slogans and the wearers' lives.

Publications Hââbré, the Last Generation. Fourthwall, 2016. . With an essay by Azu Nwagbogu. Bitter Chocolate Stories. Netherlands: Paradox, 2017. By Choumali and Marijn Heemskerk.

Exhibitions Hââbré, the Last Generation, Photoquai Biennale, "We are family" Quai Branly Museum, and Eiffel Tower, Paris, 2015 Résilientes, Photolux Festival, Sacro e profano, Lucca, Italy, 2015 Hââbré, the Last Generation, solo exhibition, 50 Golborne Gallery, London, 2016 Rencontres de Bamako festival, Bamako, Mali, 2017 Joana Choumali: Languages of West African Marketplaces, Harvard Art Museums, 2025 2014: Contemporary African Photography Prize, for Hââbré, the Last Generation 2016: Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, for the series "Sissi Barra" 2016: Fourthwall book Award, for Hââbré, the Last Generation 2019: Prix Pictet, for her series Ça va aller (It will be OK)