A Herero man holds the head of a freshly butchered cow, killed to supply meat for a funeral, 2012. (Photo by Jim Naughten, courtesy of Klompching Gallery, New York)
At Studio 54, an unidentified trio of two woman and one man recline on a banquette, miming unconsciousness, New York, New York, September 29, 1977. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images)
Madina Zhanuzakova wears Simon Rocha, Shushi Thong, Moschino and Miu Miu to the Coach show during New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in New York, New York on September 9, 2024. (Photo by Sara Konradi for The Washington Post)
Men are sent down into the sludge to clear the sewers in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on May 23, 2018. The people who do the work aren’t even given any protective clothing or goggles and have to dig out the clogged-up muck with a stick or their bare hands. (Photo by Rehman Asad/Barcroft Media)
Photographer Joana Choumali’s latest project explores body image and beauty by documenting the men building Abidjan’s clothing models. The “Awoulaba” mannequin is a customised model designed with the African ideal of beauty in mind, curvier than the stick-thin examples usually seen in the west. They first appeared in 2011, and have since become a familiar sight outside the numerous clothing shops dotted throughout Ivory Coast’s capital, Abidjan. Here: An apprentice lines up his work on a roadside. (Photo by Joana Choumali)