Details

Title

Abebe HD 849/75

Artist/Maker

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere (Nigerian, 1930–2014)

Date

1975, printed 2010

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

20 × 24 inches

Credit

Purchase with funds from the H. B. and Doris Massey Charitable Trust

Accession #

2017.144

On View

Currently not on view

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere was one of the leading photographers in post-colonial Africa. He is most celebrated for his exhaustive documentation of traditional sculptural hairstyles, which regained popularity among Nigerian women as expressions of cultural nationalism in the wake of independence. Using a taxonomic approach, Ojeikere photographed his subjects in square format, from the neck or shoulders up, with soft, even lighting before a white backdrop. He then printed the images in high-contrast black and white to accentuate the unique elements of each elaborately plaited hairstyle.

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