And huts growing out of greens, puncturing textured skies
I have looked in the eyes of a stranger
Felt the nakedness of the impossible – yet he slept on
His faith anchored to the shores of a rarified air far above a hilltop.
Filth you see. Stilts I see. In between life happens.
Each to her own miracle: belief is make-belief And if I were to put a frame, a marker, to a long stretch of road
I will start from bottom to top, from out to in A glimpse of the shifting ground under a barrage of feet.
in and out, lagos-benin expressway, nigeria.
try god, enugu, nigeria.
filth you see, stilths I see, enugu, nigeria.
are they in love or are they, like nigeria, in love-hate?, lagos-benin expressway, nigeria.
i am as naked as the open skies, enugu, nigeria.
salvation and its many enigma, enugu, nigeria.
my faith often takes the wheels, enugu, nigeria
opinion box, enugu, nigeria
ready to serve, but who?, enugu, nigeria.
there is hope where we are going, enugu, nigeria
i stand and walk, despite all, enugu, nigeria.
next gen, enugu, nigeria
the stories i left behind (joseph ngobo), ikom (nigeria-cameroon border...READ ON
the stories i left behind (joseph ngobo), ikom (nigeria-cameroon border town), nigeria
one of those nights, enugu, nigeria
even through the cracks, i live, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria
forgone, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
conclusion, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
between two lands i am dividied, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
chapel of adoration, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
harvest time is near, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
waters fall, agbokim waterfalls, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
touching wisdom stone, open air monoliths museum, ikom (nigeria-cameroun...READ ON
touching wisdom stone, open air monoliths museum, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria
wisdom stone, open air monoliths museum, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border...READ ON
wisdom stone, open air monoliths museum, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria
a man's worth stand beside him, ikom (nigeria-cameroun border town), nigeria.
'the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain", the anthem of my pain. taraba, nigeria.
flowery air, yaounde, cameroun.
facelessness and a full moon over a divided cameroon, en route-yaounde, cameroon.
juxtapositions, yaounde, cameroon.
yes, yaounde, cameroon.
is life a mirage with a touch of colour? yaounde, cameroon.
a moment carved out of a set, yaounde, cameroon.
we wait to watch waves of life pass by, yaounde, cameroon.
we are in this together, yaounde, cameroon.
mordern couture, yaounde, cameroon.
waiting for the last pair of legs to pass by, douala, cameroon.
here and elsewhere, yaounde, cameroon.
i see you, douala, cameroon.
faceless with no eyes, yaounde, cameroon.
cybernet phone shop, yaounde, cameroon.
picasso games, douala, cameroon.
golden dragon, gisenyi, rwanda.
hand in hand, kigali, rwanda.
of a thousand hills and a lion, kigali, rwanda.
good things come to those who wait, kigali, rwanda
we hold the future in our eyes, kigali, rwanda.
behind the curtain, kigali, rwanda.
a basket full of the unknown, kigali, rwanda.
tendresse, kigali, rwanda.
linking people with places, gisenyi, rwanda.
lake kivu – a view 1, goma, democratic republic of congo.
lake kivu a view 2, goma, democratic republic of congo.
fashion story, goma, democratic republic of congo.
toy story, goma, democratic republic of congo.
a lava's path, a new cartography, goma, democratic republic of congo.
here, even stones speak, goma, democratic republic of congo.
i am not a static crucifix, goma, democratic republic of congo.
one of many crossings 1, goma, democratic republic of congo.
one of many crossings 2, goma, democratic republic of congo.
my tapestry 1, goma, democratic republic of congo.
my tapestry 2, goma, democratic republic of congo.
business as usual, goma, democratic republic of congo.
nursing a phantom limb, goma, democratic republic of congo.
untitled, goma, democratic republic of congo.
primus, goma, democratic republic of congo.
i want to be, goma, democratic republic of congo.
Dream Chamber
In 2018, I took part in a 45-day “road” trip from Lagos, Nigeria to Kigali, Rwanda in the 8th edition of the Invisible Borders Trans-African Road Trip Project. I was travelling alongside fellow artists—photographers, writers, and filmmakers. Dream Chamber is a series of photographic works created in the course of the journey. They are precipitates of my encounters, thoughts, reflections, and intuitive perceptions as offered by the road.
Foremost, Dream Chamber takes into account the physicality and nature of the African quotidian space. This physicality is very much anchored to an incessant feeling I have, of the ground shifting under the feet. It is as if the imposed cartographies from many years of colonial interferences are now urgently fighting to reset or refresh themselves, and those who inhabit these topographical construct are evermore at the mercy of its tumultuous nature.
Thus, Dream Chamber is momentary renditions of acts and processes of breaking space with body and presence by the many who live lives at the interstices of a changing world and crumbling cartography. Our activities, our existence, our occupation of space are a volatile negotiation between the past and the present.
By this breaking of space, the ground shifts under the feet. This shifting of ground is the optimism, the hope—values by which lives ought to be measured. Every step in a movement is a proactive act of subversion because, by that, spaces and lives are reconfigured, stretched and bent towards reparation of the world. To transcend borders of imposed cartography is to break the ground with presence and with every movement of the body.
It is to offset the inertia.
Dream Chamber is wriggling out of contrived spaces and delineating lines of colonial-ordering. Dream Chamber is the miraculous act of joggling invisible balls until they become visible through the repetitive morphing of light and shadow.
This joggling of balls is an act of reparation. Of transformation. Of healing.
It is plunging into the unknown where there is nothing in between, save for thin air. It is life in movement and often at crossroads.
Across the spectrum of colours, gradations of light and grey areas, the granularity of textures, layers of blurry and focused planes, is the tenderness, the precariousness of lives lived in every day.
In the Dream Chamber, dark spaces are spaces of intimacy. In the Dream Chamber, dark spaces are spaces of freedom.
Borders are sites of encounters. And there is nothing hidden under the skies.
Dream Chamber is the will to Be.
In travelling through countries in the African continent, I did not seek to offer or follow specific narratives. I have made decisive attempts to not weave a narrative with hopes that every photograph holds in it what is seen as much as what is not seen.
The Dream Chamber series is set to become a book interspersed with poems and notes written on the road—during the making of the photographs.