Ahounou (b. Benin, 1963) photographs nude women in staged settings. The sensual form of the female is central: the light on the skin, the shape of the lips, and the folds in the veils that fall over the body. Generally the models turn their face away so they are not recognizable.

Ahounou makes austere black and white photographs, and wants to stimulate the viewer to introspection, to lead him to discover an inner beauty by means of his photographs. He tries to break through the prevailing taboo on showing the nude in public. In this it is not his intention to shock. The photographs are not vulgar or banal, and his models generally well-to-do women.

In Africa the reactions are divergent: some praise his work for his subtle sense of eroticism; others want him to photograph the girls from the villages of Benin rather than wealthy women.

Ahounou is a freelance journalist and, among other things, regular photographer for the Miss Benin contest.