Iyami
2021 - Photography (Photography)
80 x 120 cm
Ishola Akpo
Noticing the lack of archives on the queens of various African kingdoms, artist Ishola Akpo created several series of work that retrace their history. Akpo uses different mediums in these projects, as a metaphor to the complex stories of the figures and their true political weight. One part of the project, the Agbara Women photographic series, employs fictional portraits that sheds light on the queens’ histories. Each portrait’s elements trace Akpo’s Yoruba/Nago culture and its traditions, the photos and illustrations of the Zinsou Foundation Archives on Dahomey, the artist’s travels and books. Iyami , from the Agbara Women series, is a portrait of a regal-looking older woman, seated and swathed in crisp white cloth, adorned with a red beaded crown and various pieces of gold and silver jewellery. The woman clasps a wooden staff; the solemn authority of this gesture is underscored by her stoic expression. The title of the work means mother in the West African language Yoruba, and the portrait sitter is the artist’s actual mother. Through this fictionalized photograph, Akpo creates a space for a relationship between the “little stories” of contemporary women embodying “great women”. More than just an ode to the power of women, the series questions the amnesic and patriarchal dimensions of African history, embodied by portraits of known and forgotten queens.
Ishola Akpo is a photographer and multimedia artist whose practice explores the possibilities of digital technology. The artist mixes elements of modernity and tradition in his work in order to elicit different readings of his work that result in plural metaphors. The frontier between reality and fiction, fixed and multiple identities, remains central to Akpo’s artistic approach. In 2013 Akpo presented the award-winning series Pas de flash s’il vous plaît, a reflection on the interaction of light on the photographed subjects, presented in the form of a performance and exhibition. In 2014, he published the series L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux based on a family experience, which illustrates his grandmother’s dowry, while insisting on the burden of her memory. This project has led Akpo to further explore contemporary marriage in his practice.
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