Senegal

French-Cameroonian photographer Charlotte Yonga captures the joy and darkness of romance on the islands off the coast of Dakar.

We love love, we want love, we need love, and love is in movies and publicity.” She spends a long time with her subjects, often half a day on a few [photographs](https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/pkgjz8/summer-photographs), letting real feelings of awkwardness, bashfulness and intimacy come through in otherwise acted narratives. “For me, love is not a quiet river,” she says. Their expressions are indiscernible: “Will they break up?” asks Charlotte, “Or is this a love declaration?” “The Atlantic is very important for the people in Dakar,” Charlotte says. [photographer](https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/7k8gaa/after-dark-photographs-of-goth-ground-zero)doesn’t think that’s true to life. I think every good moment will finish and pass.” The idea of longing for someone, she explains, is the result of a strong love or desire that is exasperated by absence. The feeling of waiting to have something that is perfect that we can never have or never comes back.” [Charlotte Yonga](https://www.instagram.com/charlotteyonga/)when she arrived in [Senegal](https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/9ke4me/atlantics-is-a-supernatural-coming-of-age-romance-that-explores-african-identity)for an artist residency last summer. “My mum is white with very clear blue eyes, my stepfather, my brother and everybody at my school too,” she says. “I already anticipate that it will finish and it is not forever. “I felt very uncomfortable with colour and Black culture,” she added.