april-2019

40 / PEOPLE / Photographers
PEOPLE / 41
“I would love to engage with
more African cultures and
create images and stories
about our way of life”
Oye
Diran
Born
Nigeria
Hometown
New York
Highlights
Exhibited at the 73rd session of the UN
General Assembly; and was part of the
Celebrity Edge art collection
Best-known work
Black Monarch series
A CROWN of daggers fashioned into an
elaborate headdress sits weightlessly on a
model’s head. Her eyes are closed beneath
the golden halo and she’s exuding what
seems to be the signature grace and calm
in Nigerian photographer Oye Diran’s
work. This image, from the New Yorkbased
fashion and fine art photographer’s
Black Monarch series, was an instant hit
on the Internet. The series drew inspiration
from royal fashion around the world,
including the Aztec empire and Ancient
Egypt. It’s all in a day’s work for Diran,
whose art chiefly deals with the beauty of
the African woman. “Through my photographs,
I aim to convey this allure with
the use of fine art and conceptual
themes,” he says.
For Diran, there’s been a useful
cross-pollination of ideas between his work
in fine art and wedding photography. “I
find myself using elements in my photography
that I developed while making art, and
vice versa,” he says. “From the use of fine
art portrait lighting on brides, to a mixing
of ambient and artificial lighting, along
with composition knowledge I acquired
from wedding photography and my fine
art work,” he says.
Diran continues to refine his processes
daily. “I try not to allow rules and guidelines
to limit this process. For example, I
may have two colours close together in a
frame that don’t compliment each other
on the spectrum, but, once the image is
“I find myself
using elements in
my photography
that I developed
while making art,
and vice versa”
completed, the beauty and appreciation
becomes present,” he says.
With these elements clear, Diran then
begins searching for the right model,
styling, colour palette and more. Using
these steps, he’s gone on to produce a
series of vibrant portraits of highly
poised subjects including the Gele series,
which he developed in 2017. “I started it
with an aim to convey my interpretation
of the beauty of the African woman
through the symbolical meaning and
conceptual styling of the Gele, which is a
traditional Nigerian head wrap.”
FREEDOM AND honesty are essential
parts of the creative process for Londonbased
Nigerian photographer Ade
Okelarin who goes by the moniker, Àsìkò.
“I believe that this is how we’re able to
create the truest form of our art. They free
the imagination and allow us to go beyond
the constraints of our boxes,” he says.
With degrees in Chemistry and Bioinformatics
under his belt, Àsìkò picked up
a camera during his free time away from
his programmer gig in the pharmaceutical
industry. Starting off by photographing
landscapes, he soon progressed to selfportraiture.
“It revealed my more creative
and conceptual side,” he says. “I began to
incorporate emotional anchors into my
work.” Àsìkò found that photography
allowed him to explore his identity as an
African living in Europe.
His work comes across as textured and
atmospheric, each portrait possessing a
hint of grittiness. Àsìkò has trained his lens
on various topics, including an exploration
of the African way of life through myths
and legends, as well as harmful cultural
practices, such as female genital mutilation.
The latter inspired his first solo exhibition,
“Conversations”, which showed at
London’s Gallery of African Art.
“The challenges came when hearing
some of the harrowing stories of women
who had experienced such practices,” he
says. “The fact that I’m not a woman made
me question the validity of what I was
creating. I did come to a point of understanding
that the images are also about
my experiences looking in on womanhood;
so I might not be a woman, but I can
empathise with women and I speak from
my emotions about the subject matter.”
Àsìkò’s plans for the year involve
travelling to African countries in a bid to
document their rich and diverse heritages.
“I would love to engage with more African
cultures and create images and stories
about our way of life. I am fascinated by
it all,” he says.
Àsìkò
Born
London
Hometown
London
Highlights
Exhibited at Gallery of African Art (London)
and Rele Gallery (Nigeria); and was
nominated for the Creative Communicator
Of The Year award at the 2011 Style Awards
Best-known work
Layers series; Adorned series