If you have been sleeping on all of the incredible fashion, music and and art coming out of Nigeria – don’t. Naomi Campbell is on a mission to put Lagos fashion week on the map. Kenneth Ize of his eponymous Nigerian label, is up for this year’s LVMH prize and Steve Monite’s 1984 hit, Only You, seems to have found its way back onto everyone’s turn table. Consider the 9ja (slang for Nigeria) photo series by local Ruth Ossai – who just shot Rhianna’s FENTY Maison campaign – as a crash course.
“This series for SLEEK shows my personal style portraying a story and context relating to photos of friends, family and relatives from Eastern Nigeria to Lagos,” Ossai says. “My inspiration comes from the everyday life and people of south/east Nigeria (their style/personalities/mannerisms), Nigerian homemade DVDs (weddings, burials, ceremonies, etc.) as well as old and traditional Igbo/highlife music videos and Nollywood (mostly Igbo but some Yoruba) films. Nollywood is the film industry in Nigeria and my main source of inspiration when it comes to my backdrops, editing and collages, from the amazing special effects with different backdrops, to graphics and typefaces.”
Check out the shoot below:
This photo story originally appeared in SLEEK 60, out now. Order your copy here.