When I first moved to NYC from Lagos in 2016 I had no idea how much moving away from my country would influence the direction in which I would want my art to take. With assimilation being such an odd confusing time, I began to use my photos as a tool to explore my rapidly evolving cultural identity, while simultaneously digesting my new placement within the diaspora and ways to seamlessly intertwined both facets of my culture. Being further away from home brings about feelings of protectiveness and paranoia in me to the forefront, because I value the authenticity of my Nigerian culture/people and have faith in the youth to make our future brighter.
This is why when the youth in Nigeria began protesting against the violent corrupt police unit called SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad) it was extremely comforting to see us globally unite to perform peaceful protests that called for an end to the injustice. The #ENDSARS protests were long overdue as it also addressed deep rooted issues rampant in Nigerian society such as misogyny, Homophobia, ableism and elitist beliefs. The government officials felt threatened and retaliated by violently killing youth protesters in the Lekki tollgate massacre on October 20th 2020. Feelings of pain, fear and guilt from the #Blacklivesmatter protests I witnessed in the summer of 2020 reopened as I saw the extremely horrifying stories of victims and people that were murdered by the government officials. With the squad targeting mostly the youth, women, LGBTQ+ and the less privileged, they prey on individuals whom society has oppressed, milking them for their own benefit through violent acts.
This Oppression in forms of patriarchy, LGBTQ+ violence and police brutality are issues that black youth globally all have to deal with. Just recently 16 yr old Ma’Khia Bryant was murdered by police for no concrete reason and the media coverage on her death has been miniscule which is not surprising. The media regularly turns a blind eye to situations when black trauma can not be used for their own benefit. This is why dedicating my film to the #ENDSARS victims is not only about calling an end for the violence towards Nigerian youth, but also about dissolving the stigma placed on the different facets of our identity that society uses to be prejudiced against us. With these visuals, I’m immortalizing the dreams of black youth on the road to freedom, dissolving the stigmas placed upon them and manifesting their dreams.
I realized that I could help my community heal from this trauma by creating a space where everyone is allowed to see themselves in their own positive light and own their narrative, rather than adhere to the status quo. Yesterday is not forever, we are the future, we can fix what is broken and make it our own.