J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

[1] Ojeikere was born on 10 June 1930 in Ovbiomu-Emai, Owan East, Edo State, a rural village in southwestern Nigeria.

He left the company with an excellent photo library that was still in use, allowing him to set up his own business at Lagos Island, opening a studio named "Foto Ojeikere".

[5] A large selection of Ojeikere's work was included in the arsenale section of the 55th Venice Biennale d'arte, "Il Palazzo Enciclopedia" curated by Massimiliano Gioni in 2013.

[9] His photography covers show how the hairstyles are seen as artistic, cultural, material, and social process, forming part of the unfolding African postcolonial modernity.

[10] Ojeikere is most recognized for the black-and-white shots of elaborate, gravity-defying Nigerian hairstyles that he started photographing in the 1950s, which were presented at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Yet, as one of the first photojournalists in Nigeria, having lived from 1930 through the country's independence in 1960, military dictatorships, and village and city life, his perspective was much wider than fashion.

[10] Ojeikere also achieved an international profile in his lifetime, with his photography now in collections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Tate Modern.

In Ojeikere's hands, photography became a means to record the transient creativity that articulated Nigerian social and cultural life.