An indoor portrait taken in Cotonou, Benin, captures a young woman with dark skin and long black individual box braids

An indoor portrait taken in Cotonou, Benin, captures a young woman with dark skin and long black individual box braids. She wears a red short-sleeved top featuring a maroon-trimmed round neckline and white stripes or branding on the upper left shoulder. Her right arm, partially obscured by shadow, extends into the foreground, suggesting she is holding the camera. Intense directional natural light from the right illuminates the left side of her face, her upper lip, and the left side of her torso and arm, producing a distinct diagonal shadow across her features and clothing. The background consists of a light green wall brightly lit on the left and a darker, shadowed section on the right, revealing indistinct diagonal architectural lines and a faint, lighter brown panel in the upper right. The woman looks directly into the camera with slightly parted, glossy lips.