J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere

‘My work has two purposes. The first is to document examples of hairstyles, which I feel are an art form in themselves. One can see an element of ethnography in this. The second purpose is an esthetic project. I have formed a collection of hairstyles in which the photographs are linked together as a whole. In a way, it’s a collective endeavour. The hairstyles are created by one person, worn by another and photographed by a third person. The hairstylist uses all of her talent in her work, the customer chooses her hairstyle for herself and it’s my admiration for hairstyles that drove me to photograph them. We put into our work all our personality; each of us is searching for beauty. The hairstylist creates the most beautiful hairstyle possible in order to satisfy her customer; the woman wants to be beautiful; and I, a photographer sensitive to her beauty, I capture and transmit it.’

‘I hope to finish my life’s work by leaving my footprints in the sand of time. That would be the biggest pleasure of my whole life. I can’t expect to do more.’

Ojeikere

This publication is based on Ojeikere’s ‘green book’ - a handmade maquette for a book that was never published called ‘Hairstyles 1968-1985’.

158 pages of full black and white photographs taken in Nigeria. Includes a prefatory text by the curator André Magnin, an essay by Ojeikere (in which he talks about photography - how it has shaped his life, his practice and philosophy, how his subjects relate to their images, and the intervention of a public and visual form of historical documentation into traditions that survived orally and interpersonally) and Mrs Elizabeth Akuyo Oyairo, one of the women he photographed.

Hardback, first edition, perfect condition. 2000.