a man sitting in regal clothing sitting on a chair, the ground is covered in plastic trash
“THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES”My version of this tale tackles the growing crisis of plastic pollution. I repurposed sachets used to hold purified water, popular in Nigeria, to construct the emperor’s attire. My aim is to shed light on a very real issue around the world, which many people have yet to fully see and address.
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See scenes from classic fairy tales—with a Nigerian twist

Time-honored European stories take on urgent new meanings addressing Nigeria’s history and culture. 

STORY AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BYYagazie Emezi
June 8, 2023
6 min read

I would like to introduce you to the storytelling that I grew up with in Nigeria.

It was from a television show called Tales by Moonlight, where an elder would sit under a tree and tell stories, an on-air version of the age-old oral tradition. In earlier days, the ideal light sources were the full moon and the stars, casting a silver-blue illumination on the faces of eager children and adults alike. There also might have been the sound of crickets not far off and a soft breeze rustling the leaves of the trees.

black and white illustration of NGS Explorer Yagazie Emezi
The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, has funded Explorer Yagazie Emezi’s storytelling since 2019.
Joe McKendry

I come from a family of storytellers. In our home during the evenings, my father would recount how as a young boy he almost drowned in a well while fetching water, how he got struck by lightning in medical school, how he fought off the KGB with a baton in the middle of a train station to say goodbye to his girlfriend, how he escaped armed robbers … and oh, how I fully believed them all. Maybe these stories were meant to distract us from real life, along with the piles of books that we buried our heads in, hunched over at the dining table, curled up in chairs and beds, building worlds out of the words.

a woman in a pink dress lays on the ground in front of three figures covered by red, blue, and white hay
ONE NATION BOUND IN FREEDOM, PEACE, AND UNITYWith a title drawn from Nigeria’s national anthem, this image references “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” The bears become ethnic-group spirits; their independence bid defeats the remnants of colonialism, represented by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (that is, a woman dressed as the queen during her 1956 Nigeria visit).
a woman dressed in a red dress
I MAY BE DEAD, BUT MY IDEAS WILL NOT DIEIn this reinterpretation of The Little Mermaid, the title character turns into Mami Wata, a beloved African water deity. She stands defiantly, protesting pollution, on a bed of seaweed and surrounded by dirty water in jerry cans, containers commonly used to retrieve and carry the life-sustaining liquid.

For me, the fairy tales were especially thrilling. I loved these grand and impossible stories. I loved the fantastical images I made in my mind’s eye of magnificent castles, extravagantly embroidered garments, fairies, forests—and, of course, the sword fights, the trickery, and the blood.

I was enthralled by the fictitious gore of these stories, but there was real violence at our gates. Growing up under military dictatorship in the 1990s meant that ethnic and religious clashes were not uncommon. Jungle justice often resulted in beheaded and burnt bodies, the stench permeating the streets as kids walked to school. We’d pinch our noses and open our eyes to take it all in.

a woman carrying the statues of heads of former Nigerian leaders
GUIDE OUR LEADERS RIGHTInspired by “Bluebeard,” I transformed the title character into a wealthy woman from the Igbo ethnic group who is holding the heads of former Nigerian leaders. What would our history be like without corruption, tribalism, and failed multicultural policies? By engaging with this question, I hope we can work toward a more equitable society.
a man sitting in front of a loom with Nigerian currency on it
TO BUILD A NATIONI pulled from “Rumpelstiltskin” to point to the unfair electoral practices that contribute to Nigeria’s environmental, economic, and political decline. A man wears the shirt of the National Youth Service Corps—whose members are warned against taking bribes to interfere with voting processes—and weaves fabric from ballots and nairas, Nigeria’s currency.

When I stepped into adulthood, my heart broke at those memories, and I began to turn my gaze to the reality of my childhood and the norm of silence that blanketed it. Why wasn’t this violence talked about at home?

I was raised primarily by my father in Aba, a city in southeastern Nigeria. While he proudly identifies as a man of Igbo ethnicity, the country’s legacy of colonial rule and hypervaluation of European customs led him to prioritize the English language and education over our native language and culture. In doing so, he thought we’d have a better chance at a successful future.

In 2018 I started to take all my questions and thoughts and make them concrete through photography. My project, Another Tale by Moonlight, is a reimagination of European fairy tales, juxtaposing the historical, cultural, environmental, and sociopolitical realities of Nigeria.

a woman sitting with a Union Jack flag on her head and holding a bowl of fruit
“LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD”When looking into my ancestral history, I pored over Nigeria’s colonial photography archives and found cultural references that I used in my take on this fairy tale. I replaced the main character with an Igbo woman shrouded by the Union Jack, in a visualization of how British powers distorted and disrupted Indigenous expression.
three women wearing niqabs sit in front of a man dresses as a soldier holding a gun
PAY THE PIPERThis image adapts The Pied Piper of Hamelin to address the government’s ineffective ways of dealing with the bandits and militants who add to the general insecurity of the country. One example is the nearly 100 Chibok schoolgirls who are still missing after being abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist group in 2014.

With this series, I’m aiming to illuminate obscured narratives and the intertwined moral complexities of both cultures—and to expand on what visual storytelling is and can be when pushed beyond Western standards.

Another Tale by Moonlight addresses the issues of our past, present, and looming future by exploring ways in which these conflicts, reframed visually, can speak truth to power and action. Returning to both the European fables and the Tales by Moonlight traditions is my way of unpacking not only my own history but also that of my country.

a woman in pink inside a coffin standing with a glass door
CHILDREN OF TOMORROWTo spotlight Nigeria’s ineffective education system, which can result in some students missing school for years, I reinterpreted “Sleeping Beauty.” The main character represents the student body, encased behind glass and waiting for rescue—someday.
To create her Another Tale by Moonlight project, Emezi spent four years conceiving, constructing, and composing richly symbolic tableaux. She enlisted friends, models, and activists as collaborators; she crafted many costumes, props, and sets, employing items freighted with meaning; and in a few images, digital editing tools were used to remove some imperfections.

This story appears in the July 2023 issue of National Geographic magazine.