J.D. Okhai Ojeikere - Mai Bu - 1999

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere
Born in 1930 in Ovbiomu, Nigeria.
Died in 2014 in Lagos, Nigeria, where he lived and worked.

At the age of nineteen, J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere buys a modest Brownie D camera on the advice of a neighbour who teaches him the basics of photography. His talent earns him assignments from West Africa Publicity, for which he would work full-time from 1963 to 1975, the year he set up his studio " Foto Ojeikere ". During a festival in 1968, he takes his first photographs devoted to Nigerian culture, still in black and white, with the Rolleiflex 6x6. From then on, and for forty years, he pursues across the country his research organized by theme. Hairstyle, rich with nearly a thousand shots, stands as the most substantial and accomplished. Ojeikere photographs the hairstyles of Nigerian women every day in the street, at the office, at parties, in a systematic way, from the back, sometimes in profile and more rarely facing the camera. His work, beyond the aesthetic project, constitutes a unique heritage that is at once anthropological, ethnographic, and documentary.

Framed photo, express delivery with gallery certificate.