Blue Letter (series)

Dear Applicant,

This project BLUE LETTER witnesses and presents the silent consequences of the brutal systematic rejection, especially the emotional and mental, that result from failed visa applications and the sometimes dehumanizing visa interviews that precedes them.
Borders and diplomatic policies continue to marginalize the world and dictate the freedom of those who live in it, often without much regard for the individual, who has been reduced to a stereotype attached to the country of origin and the passport such an individual holds.
The function of Embassies and consulate offices in theory, are to be gateways for travel and trans-border relationships, but in reality they serve as the locks on the gate for many travelers and migrants who wish to interact with a world beyond home.
Visa applications get denied in very impersonal, notorious and psychologically abusive ways. This generic mass produced blue letter, the center of our story, is the regular and only response, for what is often many months of form filling, requirement hurdles and ever rising application fees of visas to the USA, and some embassies don’t even bother with a such response no matter how generic.
This narrative comes from personal experience and a place of helpless disappointments, a hopeless silence and insufficient responses.

Sincerely,
Obayomi Anthony.

Obayomi Anthony Ayodele is a Visual artist from Lagos, Nigeria who explores Lens based Arts and storytelling techniques that combine the use of Art and Technology in traditional, immersive and experimental media.

Obayomi's work is mostly in form of documentaries and non-fiction stories, created by a need to educate himself as well as to offer alternative perspectives, by presenting information and education about people, society and culture in ways that help speak to social justice, balance out stereotypes and question traditional opinions with the aim of fostering tolerance among different people and communities.

Anthony obtained a bachelors degree of Visual Arts from the Creative Arts department, University of Lagos in 2017. He won the first edition of the Lagos-Photo National Geographic Prize (2017), He was selected for the Electric South, New Dimensions Lab, Cape Town (2018) and was shortlisted for the Magnum Social Justice and Photography Fellowship(2018). He received the Taurus Prize for Visual Arts (2019/2020) and His work has been shown at the National Geographic Story Tellers Summit, LagosPhoto Festival, Alliance Francaise Lagos, Dance Gathering Lagos, The Maker Lab by the African Artists Foundation, The Project Space- Johannesburg, to mention a few.