Tembela Toto Kiesa
STUDIO VISIT
Zwischen freier und kommerzieller Fotografie
Tembela is a German designer and portrait photographer based in North Rhine-Westphalia. His work focuses on interpersonal relationships, capturing genuine emotions and strong personalities. With vibrant colors and an intimate, direct visual language, he highlights the essence of Black culture. At the same time, his photographic practice takes a clear political stance: he visually addresses issues of identity, representation, power structures, and social participation. In his documentary work, he accompanies and portrays people and communities with a sensitive, respectful eye, creating authentic visual narratives that reveal social realities. He is available for portrait, advertising, editorial, and documentary projects in Germany and internationally.
"Hi. My name is Tembela Toto Kiesa. I am 32 years old and work as a communication designer specializing in photography and illustration. Most of my commercial work is in the fashion industry, but I am also interested in documentary and fine art. I am someone who loves taking snapshots, simply capturing life. I focus on people, and especially their identities. Religion and political aspects are important to me.
Photos from my ongoing independent documentary work taken while I was in Congo. It was my first time in Congo as a diaspora child—and these were basically my first impressions. And in the future, I want to show what my next impressions will be when I'm back in Congo. At first, I only saw it online, in my own research: “What is Congo?” – very mundane things. But now it's more like, “What is Congo to me?” and not what Congo is on Google.
"Because I am Black myself, I have to deal with racism and everyday racism a lot. And I feel that many people often don't see us the way we want to be seen. That's why I work a lot with Black artists or, more generally, with people from other diasporas. Even though I often have an idea of how I want to portray them, I also ask them how they themselves want to be portrayed. It's usually a dialogue. It's like a game of ping-pong.
I love dressing up, I like clothes. In Congo, there are so-called “Sapeurs.” These are people who attach particular importance to clothing. It's a kind of subculture in Congo. For me, clothes are a form of expression, which is why I'm so interested in the industry.
If you take a picture purely commercially, it has no meaning. But as soon as you talk to people about certain things, as soon as you ask questions, as soon as you take an interest in something deeper, the depth comes automatically. Most things have depth; they're not just superficial. And I think that's why everything overlaps for me—whether it's commercial or not—because I always want to give everything meaning."
“I'm currently working on a series in which I'm trying to explore spirituality a little bit. I'm trying to build a bridge between what used to be and what is today – and what people have taken with them. That's exactly what I'm working on right now.”
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Studio Visits
With its museums, galleries and art spaces, Cologne offers a broad field of photography. Naturally, there is also a correspondingly large and diverse artist scene here that works and experiments with the medium. In our new section Studio Visits, we would like to introduce you to artistic positions and take you to the production and thinking spaces of art. Have fun!
