Freedom to move. Freedom to grow.

 

“Throughout my life, my passions have been ever-evolving. My father is an artist and does sculptures and paintings, and this influenced my artistic abilities. I remember when I was a kid, I removed all the pictures from my parent's wedding album and used the pages to sketch on – I messed up the entire thing! I also loved repairing stuff, finding something that was broken and attempted to make it work again. I took TV sets and radios apart with a screwdriver and tried to put them back together again (not always successfully!). I was curious about everything and wanted to master so many things. During my school years, I learned to play Scrabble and became so invested in it that I ended up doing it professionally and went on to represent Nigeria. I had the opportunity to travel a lot and it was during this time I started documenting my travels through photography. Eventually, I spent the money I had on a camera and knew I wanted to go down the photography route, so I took a workshop and fully immersed myself.

 

I wanted to continue travelling around the world, taking pictures, but it didn't quite pan out that way. I got an internship with a fashion and portrait photographer and fell in love with how you can create so much with so little. At this point in my life, I was so shy I could hardly stand in front of people to take their pictures or even engage with them. But I realised that I couldn't be this shy person if I wanted to take pictures of people. The camera became a way to overcome and mask my shyness, it brought me confidence, and whenever I'm holding it, it gives me a sort of boldness. I've been a photographer ever since and love how photography has the possibility of serving a higher purpose. So perhaps that makes me an artist.

On 28th June 2017, my friend Gina from Ghana visited me, so I put together a creative team and we drove to this place, which was still under construction. It's a big development of skyscrapers now, but back then it was just fields of sand and water, and I was fascinated by the sheer amount of space. I had envisioned flowing chiffon fabric and colour. When I see yellow it lifts my mood and, for me, signifies happiness. The yellow against the blue sky made for such a nice contrast and Gina simply walked into this space and kept moving. And there we were, smiling and laughing ­– all happy and giddy, and I just kept taking pictures. To me, this moment represented what I wanted life to be: the freedom to always keep moving forward. To explore places and spaces and have the ability to morph into whatever I wanted to. It signified happiness itself. I was transported into a different realm, and even seeing the picture years later, it still gives me that same feeling. It signifies my need for constantly moving forward and the happiness that comes with it.

 

I want to make a mark. I've always had this mindset in all areas of my life. Another one of my goals is to go to the Olympics for archery and win. I've started training, and in March this year I became the national archery champion in Nigeria. Sometimes I have a vision of where I'm going, and other times it gets blurry, but I just keep moving and my goals keep changing. I had a goal of representing a brand with my photography, and now I'm a Canon Ambassador. So, what do I want to do with it? One of the real objectives for me is using the position of influence I now have to serve my immediate community. There are infinite opportunities.

I am on a quest for simplicity, freedom and self-agency. I always look for simple ways to solve problems or, in my work, to get the message across. I want to live a simple life. The whole idea of photography, for me, is about freedom. I never felt like I could be tied down to one space forever and craved the freedom to travel and see the world the way I want to see it. I feel like we all hold our destiny in our hands. Whatever it is that we want to do, there are steps we can take to get there. This is how I have continued to grow and achieve my goals. Nine years of being a photographer and now I'm here. I'm constantly evolving and moving, never stagnant in one place.

 

Recently someone gifted my son a cake, and there were butterflies on it. I was inspired by them and will create an entire series around those butterflies. So much inspires me: the beauty of nature, current events and books. I want to inspire. I want to help my community grow. I want to communicate life. I want to fix things that are broken. I want to recycle things. It's a process of the continuation of life around me. My message is always evolving. Always changing.”