A Million Braid - 1968

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Abebe - 1975

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Abebe - 1975

70 x 60.4 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Agogo - 1974

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Brush Kiko - 1974

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Coiling Penny Penny - 1974

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Etine Uton Eku - 1971

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Ife Bronze - 1972

70 x 60.5 cm
Gelatin silver print

Ito Lozi - 1971

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Ito Lozi - 1971

70 x 60.4 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Mkpuk eba - 1974

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Mmon Mmon Edet Ubok - 1974

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Modern Suku - 1975

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Ojo Npeti / Kiko - 1968

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Oluweri Headdress - 1972

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Onile Gogoro or Akaba - 1975

118.4 x 118.4 x 3.7 cm
Gelatin silver print

Pineapple - 1969

70 x 60.5 cm
Gelatin silver print

Roundabout - 1973

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Shangalti - 1971

70 x 60.5 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Traditional Ceremonial Suku - 1974

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Udoji - 1975

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Udoji - 1975

70 x 60.4 x 1.9 cm
Gelatin silver print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin Silver Print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin Silver Print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin Silver Print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

Untitled - 2004

60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere

Born in 1930, in Ojomu Emai, Nigeria.

Died in 2014, in Lagos, Nigeria.

J.D. ‘Okai Ojeikere was raised in rural Southwestern Nigeria in a village where photography was an exotic luxury. In 1950, he bought a modest Brownie D camera, and a neighbour taught him the rudiments of photography. In 1951 he began to seek work from the Ministry of Information in Ibadan, repeatedly sending the same letter: “I would be very grateful if you would use me for any kind of work in your photographic department.” His persistence paid off in 1954, when he was offered a position as a darkroom assistant. Just as Nigeria was shedding colonial rule in 1961, he became a still photographer for Televison House Ibadan, a division of the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Services, the first television station in Africa. Jazz musician Steve Rhodes was director of programming and Ojeikere has recalled the spirit of the time: “Just after independence, we were full of ideas and energy. We were going to conquer the world.” In 1963 he moved to Lagos to work for West Africa Publicity.

In 1967 he joined the Nigerian Arts Council, and during their festival of the following year he began to take series of photographs dedicated to Nigerian culture. This body of work, now consisting of thousands of images, has become a unique anthropological, ethnographic, and documentary national treasure. Most African photographers of his generation only worked on commission; this project, unique in its genre, flourished without any commercial support. The Hairstyle series, which consists of close to a thousand photographs, is the largest and the most thorough segment of Ojeikere’s archive. “To watch a ‘hair artist’ going through his precise gestures, like an artist making a sculpture, is fascinating. Hairstyles are an art form,” Ojeikere has commented. He photographs hairstyles every day in the street, in offices, at parties. He records each subject systematically: from the rear, sometimes in profile, and occasionally head-on. Those from the rear are almost abstract and best reveal the sculptural aspect of the hairstyles. For Ojeikere, this is a never ending project as hairstyles evolve with fashion: “All these hairstyles are ephemeral. I want my photographs to be noteworthy traces of them. I always wanted to record moments of beauty, moments of knowledge. Art is life. Without art, life would be frozen.”

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014/2015

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere: Hairstyles and Headdresses, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK

2011

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty

Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

and Center for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria

2010

Sartorial Moments

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria

2005

Hairstyles

Maison de France

Lagos - Nigeria

and Blaffer Gallery

Houston - USA

2002

Hairstyles

Wedge Gallery

Toronto - Canada

2001

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere

MAMCO

Geneva - Switzerland

2000

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere

Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain.

Paris - France

1996

Nigerian Traditional Hairstyle

Goethe-Institut Lagos

Lagos - Nigeria

1995

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere

National Arts Council

Lagos - Nigeria

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2017

Art/Afrique, le nouvel atelier. Les Initiés, un choix d’œuvres (1989 – 2009) dans la collection d’art africain contemporain de Jean Pigozzi. Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France (04/26/17 to 09/04/17)

2016

Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain

2015

Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s-1990s, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

2015

Making Africa : A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany

2014

Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

2014

Ici l’Afrique/Here Africa - L’Afrique contemporaine à travers le regard de ses artistes, Musée des Suisses dans le Monde,Château de Penthes, Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland

2013

International Art

Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2013

Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, USA

2013

Paris Photo Los Angeles Art Fair

Paramount Pictures Studios. Los Angeles, CA, USA

2013

Keïta, Ojeikere, Sidibé, 11 Columbia, Monaco

2012/2013

Sept 18 - July 14 2013

Cheveux Chéris, Quai Branley, Paris

2012

Portraits et Identités - The Walther Collection - Burlafingen, Germany

2012

Drawing Now - Salon du dessin contemporain, Magnin-A - Paris, France

2011

Paris Photo, Grand Palais

Arthur Walther Collection

2011

Art Paris Art Fair - Magnin-A Paris - Grand Palais, France

2011

ARS 11` - Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art - Helsinki, Finland

2010/2011

The Global African Project, Museum of Arts and Design, NY

2010

The Idea of Africa (re-invented)

Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland

2010

A Midsummer Gallery Soiree

Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA, USA

2010

National Black Arts Festival

Atlanta, GA, USA

2010

A life in Pictures - Lagos, Nigeria

2010

African Stories - Marrakech Art Fair, Magnin-A - Marrakech, Maroc

2010

Anos 70, Fotografia y vida cotidiana - Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo - Seville, Espagne

2010

70s. Photography and Everyday Life

Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2010

AIPAD, L. Parker Stephenson Photographs

Park Avenue Armory, New York, USA

2010

Stare: The Pleasures of the Intensely Familiar and the Strangely Unexpected, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA

2009/2010

Hairdos and Parties: African Typographies by J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé

L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY, USA

2009/2010

70s. Photography and Everyday Life Museo D'Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy

2007

Art & about

City of Sydney

Sydney - Australie

2007

Documenta 12

Kassel-Germany

2006

100% Africa

Guggenheim Museum

Bilbao, Espagne

2006

Vive l’Afrique

Galérie du Jour – Agnès b.

Tokyo - Japon

2006

About Africa, Part one

Fifty One Fine Art Photography

Antwerp, Belgium

2005/2006

Arts of Africa

Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African Art

Washington, DC. - USA

2005

Arts of Africa

Grimaldi Forum

Monaco

2005

Vive l’Afrique

Galerie du Jour – Agnès b.

Paris - France

2005

African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Houston - USA

2004/2005

kurzdavordanach

Photographischen Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur

Mediapark

Köln - Allemagne

2004

Je m’installe aux abattoirs

La collection d’art contemporain d’agnès b.

Les Abattoirs

Toulouse - France

2004

Joy of Life –

Malick Sidibé and Ojeikere,

Two Photographers from Africa

Hara Museum

Tokyo - Japan

2004

Nous Remontons de la "Calle" Toutes les Photographies!, Galerie du Jour Agnès B., Paris, France.

2003/2004

Parures de tête

Musée Dapper

Paris - France

2003/2004

Nous Remontons de la “Calle” Toutes les Photographies

Galerie du Jour agnès b.

Paris - France

2003

Fables de l’identité

Œuvres photographiques et vidéos de la collection NSM Vie/ABN AMRO

CNP, Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild

Paris - France

2002

Collection in Context - Recent Photography Acquisitions

The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.

2001

J.D’ Okhai Ojeikere

Galeria DV

San Sebastian - Espagne

2001

Century City : art and culture in the modern metropolis

Tate Modern

Londre - Grande Bretagne

2000

Africa Inside

Noorderlicht 2000 photofestival

Fries Museum

Leeuwarden - Pays-Bas.

2000

Africa: Past-Present

Fifty one Fine art photography

Anvers - Belgique

2000

La Beauté in fabula

Palais des Papes

Avignon - France

1996

Nigerian Traditional Hairstyle, Goethe Institut, Lagos, Nigeria

1995

Nigerian Contemporary Art

World International Property Art, WIPO Genève - Suisse

1995

1st National Creativity Exhibition

National Theatre

Lagos - Nigeria

1983

«Ten top Photographers »

National Museum

Lagos - Nigeria

1978

Photography in Advertising

50th Anniversary of Lintas Limited

Lagos - Nigeria

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2015

Amelie Klein, Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum catalogue, pg. 132

2012

Cheveux chéris - Frivolités et trophées, Exhibition catalogue, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, Edition Actes Sud

2010

Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity. Contemporary African Photography from The Walther Collection. Steidl.

2009

Willis, Deborah. Posing Beauty African American Images from the 1890s to the Present. New York: Norton.

2008

Harney, Elizabeth editor. Flava:Wedge Curatorial Projects 1997-2007.Toronto: Wedge Curatorial Projects.

2006

100% Africa, Exhibition Catalogue. TF Editors & FMGB Bilbao: Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.

2005

De Lima Greene, Alison; Alvia J. Wardlaw and Thomas McEvilley. Africa Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Exhibition Catalogue, Merrell and MFAH

2005

Domino, Christophe and André Magnin. L’art africain contemporain, SCALA.

2004

Schürmann, Wilhelm and Susanne Lange. Kurzdavordanach. Gedenwart als Zwischenraum, Exhibition Catalogue, Editions Revolver Books.

2003

Parures de Tête : Hairstyles and Headdresses, Exhibition Catalogue, Editions Dapper.

2002

Geo, Photos, June 6 (German publication).

2002

“Hair raising”, Azure, June-May (Canadian magazine)

2002

“Ojeikere: Hairstyles”, Word, May (Canadian magazine)

2002

Jordan, Betty Ann. “Crowning Glory”, Toronto Life, May.

2001

Century City : art and culture in the modern metropolis, Exhibition Catalogue, Tate Modern, Tate Editions.

2001

“El peinado como objeto de arte”, El Diario Vasco, February 6.

2001

Agirre, Joxean. “Amets eder baten anzeko orrazkerak dituten neskak”, Gara, February 7

2001

“J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, en Donastia “Cortes de pelo, hairstyling”, Gara, February 17.

2001

Gonzalo, Jon. “Okhai Ojeikere: Orrazkera artearen pareko jardueratzat dugu Nigerian”, Egunkaria, February 7.

2001

Grandjean, Emmanuel. “Ojeikere ébouriffe le Mamco et Hafif lui donne des couleurs”, Tribue de Genève, February 21.

2001

E.D., “Le Mamco change de look avec J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere”, Tribune de Genève, March 16.

2000

Magnin, André. J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere/Photographs. Germany: Cartier Foundation with Scalo

2000

La Beauté, Exhibition Catalogue, Palais des Papes. Avignon, France: Editions Flammarion.

2000

J. D Ojeikere. Africa inside, Noorderlicht, Stichting Aurora Borealis.

2000

“Ojeikere, Fondation Cartier in Tnago”, Daily Times, January 26.

2000

“Ojeikere décioffe à la Fondation Cartier!”, Photo, no. 368, April. Vouge, Photo, April.

2000

Magnin, André. “L’Afrique de dos”, Jalouse, May.

2000

Vérdenne, Elisabeth. “Inventaire au peigne fin”, L’oeil, no. 515, April.

2000

“Ojeikere’s Hairstyle stun France”, The Guardian on Sunday, May 14.

2000

Ryle, John. “Head Strong”, The Independent on Sunday, The Sunday Review, May 21.

2000

Bender, Wolfgang. “J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Porträts afrikansher Frisuren”, Entwicklungs – Politik, May.

2000

Diva, no. 7, June.

2000

Kuntz, Joëlle. “Moments de beauté en Afrique – La coiffure comme oeuvre de l’art africain”, Le Temos, August 10.

1996

Nigerian Traditional Hairstyles, Exhibition Catalogue, Goethe- Institut: Lagos.