Azania in Studio began as a personal collaborative project between Warner and independent artist Azania Agege. Warner's intention from the start was to make this bigger than a portrait session: to bring in the full elements of a real production, building something that felt like cover art from the ground up. The project was co-creative directed between Warner and Azania, with Warner serving as creative producer and photographer and leading the lighting direction alongside his team.

During production, Warner made a last-minute decision to introduce the crew into the frame, transforming background figures into essential subjects. The choice brought an unexpected depth to the image and turned the act of image-making into the image itself. By juxtaposing talent and crew within a single frame, the composition creates a moment of symmetry and balance that recalls Annie Leibovitz's 2001 portrait of Serena Williams, using studio space and lighting to express strength, gaze, and identity.

The project drew thousands of viewers on Instagram and has circulated widely on Pinterest. Captured and edited on Capture One, the work extended beyond the photographs themselves. A call sheet featuring the full cast and crew was printed on a CD and displayed as a physical artifact, with names handwritten and signed on the disc. The CD functions as both documentation and art object, marking the production as a true creative project rooted in the language of the music industry.

Production team:
Co-Creative Directors: Wisdom Warner, Azania Agege
Photography + Lighting Direction: Wisdom Warner
Photo Assistants + Lighting: Elijah Simpson, Alida Swanson, Raymond Williams
Talent: Azania Agege, Moeda
Talent Extras: Bean (Photographer), Astrid (Film Director), Jordan Yates, Jackson Newcomer