The Africa I see through my lens — Kemi Akin-Nibosun

Why did you opt for photography?Photography is a practical skill as well as a form of art which can convey a lot in split seconds with a camera click. This is not the same for painting or sculpture or other art forms. In our generation today, it plays a key role in the documentation of […]

Why did you opt for photography?
Photography is a practical skill as well as a form of art which can convey a lot in split seconds with a camera click. This is not the same for painting or sculpture or other art forms. In our generation today, it plays a key role in the documentation of our history and allows us direct say in all the goings-on in society. For me as a young Nigerian, it is more than aesthetics but a platform to address a variety of issues.
We did a road trip from Lagos to East Africa, Addis Ababa. From there I just kept working and entering my works for competitions and eventually won one last year, ‘Life in my city’. Through that I became associated with the French Institute network and that brought about this solo exhibition which will be traveling to Lagos and then Enugu.

What were your childhood fantasies?
They were fleeting. I wanted to be a dancer, then a doctor. At some point a scientist, then a classical music composer. I wanted to be so many things.
But now, photography is a passion. I have been in it for four years and all you see here are selected works from those four years 2010 – 2014.

Why have you titled it ‘Alternative Africa’?
Even before I joined Invisible Borders and even before then as a student in the UK, there were so many images that got to say ‘wait! This is not the Africa I know’. There were so much imagery that didn’t represent Africa as I knew it and I said, this isn’t right and decided that there needed to be a different perspective. Africa is big and that might be ambitious to try and caption different perceptions of Africa. But in my own way I was determined to do my little bit. The idea behind it and the fact that as a continent we are one, mattered the most to me.
There is a picture of Gambarou that was burnt. I took that photo during a road trip to East Africa with Invisible Boarders. You will not believe it is Gambarou. These are the kind of images that should be going out. If nothing else, at least to give a feeling of hope and for people to see that this place has the potentials to be great.

It seems you have treated different themes in the works exhibited here…

There are 40 images and we took 10 themes from different series and four each from these themes. We felt it was the best way to represent those four years.

Which of these were the most difficult images for you to capture?
The ones on the road trip were. They are a few here. I was quite young when I did the trip at the age of twenty. I don’t think I was completely emotionally prepared for the journey, for the stress.
I also had to focus on creating works with depth and I think in terms of overall package, that was challenging.
The most heart-warming of the works is the one I have titled ‘Boxed’. It is also the most expensive work on display. It won me my first prize and is basically the beginning of all this. It is also emotional because that is the house in which I grew up. It is so many bundles in one.
Asides the fact that it is the house you grew up in, what else does ‘Boxed’ represent?
It represents pain. I’ve experienced life outside of Nigeria. I know to what extent women are free. Even for me, I have my challenges. I live with my mum and preparing for this show, I was like, ‘if I start explaining it will be even more difficult. So do it first. It’s not just married women who may be boxed; even young girls, women at all levels. If you go through the tough time and make the sacrifice against all odds, if it is not a success, you are done for because so many are waiting for you to just fail. So that they can be like ‘see, it’s not done like that in our society.’ From that angle, it is pain.

From 2010 when you started, till date, what personally has changed for you with the way you view different issues of life?
I’m learning that people are different. I can’t always assume that because I won’t, they won’t or because I can, they also can. This is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt. I’m learning to co-exist in hurt, in pain in disappointment and I have learnt that eventually nothing is permanent. Things will turn around; some people will and some might not. But the fact that you chose not to flare up  will make the difference.

What next after this?
I hope to exhibit at the Pretoria Museum of Arts in South Africa from then on, it’s just me and God and wherever he takes me.

What’s your life like as a photographer?
Combining work, going to school, being the only left at home and photography is a handful and quite hectic. I have to learn to balance things.