‘Words become images before my camera’

Musa Tukurah is a photographer who enjoys using people in order to capture images that convey deep meanings. His first solo exhibition is scheduled to take place between 2018 and 2019. Here, he talks about his style of photography, how he took the art seriously and more. Your photographs are introspective as well as philosophical. […]

Musa Tukurah is a photographer who enjoys using people in order to capture images that convey deep meanings. His first solo exhibition is scheduled to take place between 2018 and 2019. Here, he talks about his style of photography, how he took the art seriously and more.

Your photographs are introspective as well as philosophical. What would you say influences the images you capture at a particular time?

It could be anything around me, a movie or script. Different things influence how my photographs turn out to be. There are times when I have ideas on how to create a picture, and by the time I go on location or studio, something else may alter how I decide to create the pictures. Sometimes it’s the way I feel or see things.

A typical example is your Independence Day shot that trended on social media recently, of a woman with arrows stuck to a Nigerian flag on her back. What inspired the photograph?

That picture was created a few months ago, but it wasn’t for Independence Day. I think at that point I was thinking of the country. Someone saw it and decided to use it on that day.

You have a habit of writing a few lines about your work when you post on social media, giving insight into what a particular photograph is saying. What comes to you first, the picture or the words?

It’s both. There are times when I read quotes by other people and they inspire me to create pictures. At other times, the idea for a photograph comes, I sit and ponder and then the words come to me. So, it’s both ways.

What do you try to achieve most with the images you capture?

There’s emotion, and then half the time I’m talking about myself. Sometimes I am talking about people and their lives. But a lot of time I am talking about myself, things I have experienced, gone through and what I am going through at a particular time.

You have worked on a project tagged ‘Project Siblings.’ What inspired it?

I have two daughters who are very different. The idea is about photographing people who are from the same family, but who are different. When you are around people and see how they interact with their siblings you would be surprised how free they can get.

You mostly use models. Has this always been the case?

They aren’t necessarily professional models. I just prefer using people for my photographs. Using inanimate objects are a lot trickier to put together than people. With people, there’s emotion that capturing objects. I only have a few where I use such.

How did photography begin for you?

Years ago when I was in Senior Secondary Two, I started by just photographing family friends and moments. After I graduated from the university I took it more seriously. Then I was doing more of wedding photography and landscapes. I needed my pictures to stand out a bit more and wedding pictures didn’t give me that. In 2016 I changed the way I shoot.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now, I am putting together photographs for my exhibition titled ‘Unveiled’, which is likely to take place this year or next. It’s me coming out of my fear of how people may judge my work. Sometimes it takes a lot for me to put out my work. I struggle with whether it’s worth it.