LAGOS AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
YASMINE AKIM, SHADES OF NOIR.
My experience of Lagos as a Photographer. I have family in Cameroon (border state) and cousins in Lagos – but was still severely alienated due to my skin tone, not surprising, but likewise - I have no recognisable cultural identity in Britain. I had previously never visited a developing country without family; as a result of this I was forced to examine my social conditioning and privilege – why did I feel like I was in danger?... Perhaps it was because of the sheer sense of lawlessness, yes - but moreover the stark isolation, caused by my otherness. As a photographer I was extremely stimulated by Lagos when I travelled there two years ago - the experience was life changing, as it was something that I had never seen before, a totally different world. Barthes stated that ‘The camera is a clock for seeing’ - in his book Camera Lucida (1980), this is interesting to me whilst thinking about shedding light onto situations that one doesn’t usually get to see. The movement of time drastically changed as soon as I left the airport - which affected me deeply; it felt as if I was in a dream for the whole duration of the trip. The opportunity to experience adult life like a child again gave me the enthusiasm to work in a way that had been previously distorted through familiarity.
tone, this was draining and exhilarating simultaneously as people would look at me with sincere confusion. People from all walks of life were not used to seeing someone half black and half white, and believe me everyone was honest about their curiosity. What I found to be the most inspiring aspect of my experience was the fact the street culture was vibrant with phenomenal style and individuality – despite the corrupt nature said to take place in Nigeria, ‘Structural factors obviously play a large role: gross inequality, poverty, desperation. But societal attitudes play a part as well. While almost all Nigerians complain about corruption, actual public tolerance for the practice remains too high.’ I had a very strong sense that the pedestrians owned their area, people were proud, and able to just sit on a bench for a few hours with friends - In comparison, in London, I feel as if everything is more transactional and as a result there are designated places to chill out, people do not feel relaxed in the streets it’s all about getting from A to B. Because of this, there was a strong sense of community in Nigeria, the culture is more engaged and intense because everyone is simply more up front about how they feel about things. Most of all, people did not shy away from the inquisitiveness of eye contact, no one was too embarrassed to embrace intensity with strangers.
Being a British mixed-race woman made it impossible to avoid attention, it was an interesting conversation starter as it was incredibly rare to see someone with my skin BIOLOGICAL PIGMENT BIAS: PERSPECTIVES ON COLOURISM // 71
