Through my lens, Africa is not a dark continent – Photographer

How and when did you delve into photography? Professionally, it was five years ago. But I have always been into photography from when I was a teenager. It’s something that fascinated me, although I didn’t take it seriously then and saw it as a matter of point and shoot. But when I went to college […]

How and when did you delve into photography?
Professionally, it was five years ago. But I have always been into photography from when I was a teenager. It’s something that fascinated me, although I didn’t take it seriously then and saw it as a matter of point and shoot. But when I went to college in the UK, I made friends with a Ukrainian girl studying Fine Arts and one of her majors was photography. So I followed her around for the fact that she was taking pictures and that was the first time I knew that photography is more than what it seemed to be – it is one of the biggest forms of communication that has now become a part of the world. That was when I decided to take it further than just a dream. But then I didn’t know how to tell my family back home.

Let’s talk about your very first camera and that first photograph?
My very first camera was a birthday present from my sister when I clocked 18. I wouldn’t say I took my first picture with it because I used to use a friend’s. A picture I remember and really liked was that of my friend drinking soda, which I took with an analog camera. After I printed it, I was impressed with myself and the quality of the photograph and everything in it. It inspired me to do more, especially with black and white, because the photograph was in black and white.

You have a flare for black and white?
Yes I do, but it’s not like I don’t like colour. Colour is good, but I think it all depends on the purpose of the photograph. I feel black and white makes the subject of the photograph more pronounced, while colour could be distracting and also get your work misinterpreted. But with black and white, what you see is what you get.

You are keen on writing essays about photographs. Can you give some examples?
I wrote on Genevieve Aken’s series, ‘The Masked Woman,’ Zina Saro-Wiwa’s series ‘Men of the Ogele,’ and Rotimi Fani-Kayode, a Nigerian artist who lived and died in the UK. His photographs were very controversial and could not be exhibited in Nigeria. There are many more, both on local and foreign photographs.

What inspires you?
To be honest, everything inspires me in Nigeria, because of so many factors – the kind of people we are, our economy, way of life, and culture. I have a lot of projects going on, but I need a focus in order not to confuse things with all the excitement around. We are working and travelling and doing a series on women and fishing, the fishing and selling process and the impact they are making. This is actually pulling me back to creating awareness and doing some charity-related things. So it’s going to be a sought of empowerment for women. The next project taking shape already is fashion for charity and I am one of the art photographers. It’s fundraising by an organisation that wants to have a yearly fashion event with focus on IDPs. Where I come in is that, we are going to try and tell their stories through pictures, called ‘fashion drive.’ We are going to have a mini event before the main event in November. So, while we are having the mini event at the camps, I want to focus on their appearance and fashion sense.

What do you hope to achieve?
From the donations we get, we hope to make an impact in their lives, particularly their immediate needs, such as jobs, infrastructure and projects that can improve their lifestyle. This is one of the biggest goals of the documentation.

You talked earlier about eking a living out of photography. How do you do that now?
We are working on a studio and we cannot avoid the commercial part of photography. We hope that the studio will in turn facilitate the artistic part of photography, even though we intend in the long run to create an art centre to enhance the work of other photographers in Abuja – those who always think of ways to express themselves through that medium – promote them through exhibitions, get financial backing, and generally, try to create a hub to encourage artists for them to know they can have a life through photography. And hopefully our international contacts can take those images out because we want to represent our culture and country rather than have foreigners come in for some few weeks or years and pick what they don’t understand.

Any particular reason why you returned to Nigeria, instead of practicing your art elsewhere?
There’s one great thing that photography has done to Africa. It has moulded the image of the black man into what the photographer or the commissioner of the photography project wants it to be. And most of the time it’s not done in good light but for their own selfish interests. I came back to Nigeria because I know the power of photography and only we can change this. I think we should use the same photography that has made them consider Africa to be a dark continent, to show that we are actually a very colourful and happy people. That brings us back to the art centre I was talking about, which would help promote that and get people to write photography. You don’t have to go to school to write photography. You can just pick up a paper and express yourself from a photograph taken. Another reason I came back is because I don’t want to go to foreign countries and see historic Nigerian photographs or the queen’s collection in London. I want to see something here. I want to go around, collect very important historic photographs and preserve them for the future because a lot of kids don’t know Nigeria’s history.
 
Have you collected any yet?
No, but I have made arrangements to collect from some people.

Do you have an idea what kind of photographs they have?
Yes, some have photographs of grandfathers who attended the first Federal Government College. Photography can go a long way. I saw it in Paris and London where they use the art to keep their country going. France was actually built on heritage; they feed on their art and pictures. They respect photography. People come from other parts of France to Paris on holiday so that they can see their famous artists and visit galleries and that is what is keeping their economy going. So this can also mean a lot to our economy.

How does photography go beyond shooting?
You could take a photograph and its nice, looks good to people, but the minute you start explaining the purpose behind it, you give it light, thereby getting people engaged and thinking. People write a whole book on just one photograph. So Paris was really good and it awoke a lot of things in me and I decided I don’t want to take only photographs, but talk about them and write about them and also preserve them, because the oldest things are imbedded in photography. I came back to Nigeria in 2012 and started doing a lot of freelancing and within that period I shuffled between the UK and Nigeria trying to do more photography. When I had the time I wrote essays on photographs. Last year I decided to do a Masters in photography because the idea is to do it young before going out into the world and then finding it hard to return to school. That was how I applied to Sotheby Institute of Art. The director wasn’t so sure and wanted one to have a valid reason. I had a Skype interview with her and she was really impressed with the way I saw photographs and what I would love to do with it in Nigeria. So she gave me a place. Usually she takes ten people, but this time around I became the eleventh.