Location: SENEGAL

Alongside its golden beaches, glitzy nightclubs and vibrant music scene, Senegal’s capital, Dakar, is emerging as a key African fashion hub.

When it launched 20 years ago, Dakar Fashion Week had a handful of aspiring local designers and models gathering in often run-down hotels. Now dozens of designers from around the world present their creations to thumping DJ mixes as drone cameras hover above the runway shows that are broadcast live on national television.

ABOUT FINBARR O’REILLY

Finbarr O’Reilly has spent the last 20 years as an award- winning visual journalist and author working in conflict zones and complex humanitarian emergencies. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times and was the Laureate of the 2020 Carmignac Photojournalism award, which resulted in a two-year project, two books, and multiple exhibitions about the Democratic Republic of Congo. Finbarr has also produced exhibitions for the Nobel Peace Prize and the International Criminal Court. His focus in recent years has been on leading collaborative multi-platform projects that develop and promote a more representative range of voices and perspectives in the photojournalism industry while translating strategic and editorial objectives into engaging and compelling narratives that influence global audiences. 

Finbarr is committed to educational, mentoring, and personal development initiatives aimed at a meaningful diversification of the media landscape and the promotion of social justice. Finbarr has held fellowships at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia universities and has won numerous awards, including from World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year International. He is the co- author of the 2017 memoir Shooting Ghosts.