5 Nigerian Photographers Exploring Identity

"This series; 'Portraits of my mother (Ongoing)' is my way of making sense of the relationship I have with my mother. Using self portraits I express the obvious bias of my perception which is constantly evolving."

"With overarching themes of minimalism, surrealism and space tying the works together, each image comes together as a visual puzzle of memories, feelings, places from my early childhood to present day, to tell the story of who my mother is to me as a consequence of where I’m from."

"As human beings- from birth to the end of life, the family structure has been the foundation of what shapes both our worldview and ourselves. My project is a visual representation of the perception I have of my family dynamics which has been heavily influenced by immigration, most particularly the relationship with my mother."

As a Nigerian photographer, Nengi Nelson hopes to tell authentic stories of both individuals and communities within and beyond Nigeria highlighting joy, progression, and where necessary suffering to incite change and drive aid. With over 4 years of experience she has been able to lend her skills to different organisations and contributed to telling their stories.

"As humans, a lot of our experiences are governed by an innate need to self-define and understand. Gaining sound knowledge of why we exist, who we are and how we want to live our lives is a daily drive. This innate need to understand who I am was the basis for this ongoing photographic project."

"To better understand The alternate identities, I set out to document the lives of individuals whose identities challenged traditional norms, questioning how they identify themselves, what part of their identity is the most prominent and what factors affect their choice of identity."

Love has been left in the hands of technology and WiFi threatening families with little resources to maintain communication and connection to their own identity. Nelly Ating explores marriage in the context of Nigerian diaspora. Her project takes a look at long distance love stories incorporating her early experience as a wedding photographer to approach this portion of work.

Capturing the brides and brides-to-be's emptiness in their personal space while discussing the impact of long distance relationships.

The emotional anxiety of visa denials, the torture of the visa application process with its own financial burden, and still, fear of losing communication with loved ones.

Through her work, she aims to show the world that Nigeria is more than just extremes, that our culture is strong and our people even stronger.

In particular, her work hones in on our heritage which is often under-appreciated. By documenting historical buildings, she aims to tell stories, stories of times past, characterised by struggles, sadness, and happiness.

Fuelled by her passion and love for Nigeria, she never wants to lose sight of why she started taking pictures. She always wants it to come back to that place of love.

"I am passionate about my art and am greatly influenced by Nigerian cultural identity."