Rahima Gambo began her artistic practice as a photojournalist, and although her work has expanded to embrace a multimedia approach, a documentary process remains the driving force in her artworks. The series Tatsuniya, Tatsuniya (a Hausa word meaning story, tale, or riddle) emerged from a collaboration between the artist and students in northeastern Nigeria, known as the Tatsuniya Art Collective—an organization founded by Gambo, which supports students in finding agency and fellowship through visual storytelling. Gambo first visited the Shehu Sanda Kyarimi Government Secondary School in 2015 as a photojournalist covering the stories of students whose schools were targeted by Boko Haram, the terrorist organization that became infamous for its kidnapping of hundreds of girls from their boarding school in 2014. This series, made in 2017, does not center on tragedy but instead refocuses on themes such as exploration, play, togetherness and collaboration. Here, a group of young school girls gather around a circle of lit candles on their classroom floor, where they appear to exchange stories and listen intently to one another.
