The Red Sea
The Red Sea, Photography, 2022
“The Red Sea” is a deeply personal work that reflects both my roots and my outrage. It captures a young boy swimming in the waters of a community in Delta State, where I was born and raised. This region, rich with oil, is one of the highest producers in Delta State, Nigeria. My own Urhobo community, for example, is home to 350 oil wells, over 15 flow stations, and more than 20 gas flare sites. Despite the immense wealth extracted from our lands, we endure severe environmental pollution and persistent socio-economic challenges. In this photograph, the boy’s joy and resilience are palpable—he plays in the very waters that symbolize both the life of the community and its ongoing struggles. The red hue of the water, which I chose to represent the biblical Red Sea, is a powerful metaphor for survival, strength, and the pain that comes with being continuously exploited by a nation that should protect us. This image is more than just a snapshot; it’s a statement of defiance, a testament to the indomitable spirit of my people, and a call to recognize the beauty and strength that persist despite overwhelming adversity.
Artist Statement: I’ve always wondered about the intangible transcendental elements of life and the inexplicable eccentricities of humanity. I’ve always wondered how to holistically capture human emotion, beauty, and style in one single frame. This burgeoning rabid curiosity has taken me through the plains of poetry and has now landed me graciously on the visual scapes of photography. Ive worked with a digital camera throughout my journey, dabbling in many genres and exploring different themes. Over the years, Ive focused my work on fine art and portraiture with themes that border around social-political issues, style, fashion, and beauty. Through my photography, I aim to explore the complex interplay between identity, society, and culture. Ive found myself experimenting with shadows and colors to explore these themes, using light and contrast to create dynamic, thought-provoking images. Im especially drawn to creating work that makes people appreciate the mundane – to see the beauty and significance in the everyday moments and objects that we often overlook. My photography invites viewers to pause, reflect, and engage with the world around them. I’ve since then been drawn to highlighting the richness of dark skin tones through strong contrasty images with vibrant colours that expand the view of blackness in all of its diversity while illuminating black and silhouetted bodies in their most glorious and confident form. Sometimes I create characters in my work that seem to lack identity, dark forms of supposedly genderless bodies painted in shadows but imbued with individual narratives, and that carry with them various ideas and concepts related to human culture, style, beauty, and the general human existence. My work, whether a portrait, editorial, or fashion has become a prism through which I can comment on and explore social-political and cultural issues. As an African-born artist, the celebration of black and indigenous experiences specifically has become a huge part of my work, not just because it is a part of me, but also because I have come to believe in the inherent beauty, elegance, mystery, sophistication, and power that is revealed through a bold representation of black skin tones in portraits. This has become an integral part of my creation and editing process. The intensive and extensive use of blacks and shadows is a signature to the overall message of my works. There’s the easy yoke/burden to make each piece emotion personified, entirely of themselves with their own presence– not of me. My keen appreciation of the bizarre but unique works of Rodney Smith and his uncanny poses and composition; the groundbreaking work of Rafael Pavarotti around afro-indigenous people and the unique works of Chogi Seok and many others have played a huge part in shaping and refining the edge of my artistic expression. —Whether part of a series or viewed individually, my photographs are strong visual renditions of the power of constructing narratives that raise questions and offer appreciation to what appears before the viewer.
