Snapshot

Claim to Fame: Bare Men - a male nude photography series

Curatorial Debut: Bare Men: The Group Show

Latest Series: Black in Black & White

Current Personal Project: SHE Rides - a Female Biker Portrait Series

Foray into Video: Interracial Couples Documentary Series

Fun Fact: All images for her first solo exhibit, Man. Toy., were shot on a Samsung Glyde phone

Future Career Milestone(s): Photographing WWE Superstars. Shooting a major brand campaign in the desert. Being a featured photographer for the relaunch of the ESPN Body Issue.

Abigail Ekue is a native New York-based photographer. Her primary body of work includes portrait, editorial and nude photography with a focus on gender, social representation, body positivity and sexuality. Abigail holds up the mirror to her clients, helping them see the beautiful nuances and emotions of everyday life through evocative storytelling through my photos. Her interest, knowledge and experience in the “body-ologies” - physiology, anatomy, kinesiology, psychology - and subcultures fuels her work.

Abigail is the photographer behind the Bare Men series. The male nude photography series is a honest, poignant, sometimes playful and vulnerable portrayal of the male nude body. The series features full-frontal nudity and is her response to the double standard of female vs male nudity in art and photography. She continues to add to her ‘SHE Rides’ portrait series featuring female motorcycle riders across the US and her dynamic B&W portrait stories of Black creatives, artists and visionaries, "Black in Black & White". Her ‘Interracial Couples Project’ is a series that includes portrait photography and had her step out of her comfort zone into the realm of video.

Abigail Ekue Photography has been exhibited in the Museum of the City of New York, Musée du Louvre, BKhz Gallery (Johannesburg), in Athens, Greece and the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas. She's also held solo exhibits of her ‘Man. Toy.’ and Bare Men photo series. Bare Men: The Group Show, a group photography exhibit featuring 30 artists marked Abigail Ekue’s curatorial debut.

Her work has been published in PAPER, The Huffington Post, Time Out New York, L'Oeil de la Photographie, Flavorwire, WideWalls, Refinery29, The Naked and the Lens (2nd Edition) along with various publications in the US, UK, France, Mexico, Switzerland, Germany and India. Work from her portrait portfolio is at the Department of Photography of the University of Athens. Abigail Ekue's work has been cited in various graduate thesis on vulnerable masculinity, research on the differences in the depiction of males versus females in fashion photography and the modern view of erotic art in print publications in the digital era.

Abigail has worked with photography clients in numerous US cities including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Albuquerque, Philadelphia, Seattle, Tucson, Boston, Houston, Phoenix, Cincinnati, San Diego, Montreal (CA) among others. She also leads a number of photo excursions for photographers of all levels and travelers in New York City.

Career Highlights

2024 “Black in Black and White”, solo exhibit, Seven House Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2023 Hired as the official photographer of the Urbanworld Film Festival

2022 Invited Artist to the Houston Center for Photography Print Auction and Exhibition, all three works sold at auction

2019 “Bare Men: The Group Show” (curator), The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2018 "Behind The Lens: Bare Men", JustMe, ZoominTV

2017 Artist of the Month, "Bare Men", Erotic Heritage Museum, Las Vegas, NV

2016 "Bare Men Pop-Up exhibit" (solo show), The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2015 The Body Collection, Exposure Award Digital Display, Musée du Louvre, Paris, FR

2013 Rising Waters 2.0., Museum of the City of New York, Superstorm Sandy Photography Exhibition Open Call

2010 Grand Prize Winner, Spike Lee's "BK Loves MJ" Photo Contest

2009 Man. Toy. (solo exhibit), Body Archive Gallery, NY