What it Means to Document Our Cultures and Festivals Beyond The Present

Everyone who searches the internet for photo stories of Africans has the same problem: the lack of nuance in the portrayal of Africa and its people. With the majority of photos reflecting poverty and starvation, the richness of our cultures, traditions and people often gets lost. However, in recent times, there have been efforts made to tell better stories of Africa and Africans, and by Africans too. Last year, we had 3 seasoned storytellers share how we can tell more nuanced stories.

Lately, in Nigeria, the buzz around our culture and traditions has been on a high. We have our local storytellers, filmmakers, journalists, and so on, covering our cultural festivals, and creating content around it, and we have people relating to this content without judgement or scorn. Young people are attending these cultural festivals for the sole purpose of documenting our stories and more people are consuming these content out of curiosity and pride. Gone are the days when these festivals and traditions used to be documented for foreign export and also met with derision in Nigeria. It’s such a good time to be Nigerian.

So in furtherance to telling stories of ourselves, people, culture, and places, we are having a conversation with Taofeek Ibrahim (FotoNugget) and Niyi Fagbemi – 2 photographers documenting our cultural events through their camera lens, and Prince Adedoyin Alatishe who is at the forefront of boosting the Ojude Oba festival, both on social media and offline. 

Last year, Taofeek Ibrahim, a documentary photographer, attended the Twins Festival in Igboora, Oyo State – a town where the presence of twins within nearly every household stood as a testament to its rich historical tapestry. He has since covered many more festivals, including the Dubar festival, Osun Osogbo festival, Calabar festival and others, for one major reason: telling African stories.

“For me, starting up as a documentary photographer with a keen interest in telling African cultural and traditional stories was birthed from the little representation of the African cultures on the internet. People are not aware of these cultures – the people, the food, the architecture, religions and professions. We see how Nigeria and Africa are usually portrayed as a country and continent ravaged by poverty, so I feel it’s important we tell our stories ourselves so others won’t tell a false narrative of it,” he says. 

Like Taofeek, Niyi Fagbemi shares the same sentiment. From his experiences documenting places and cultures across Nigeria and Africa, he believes that there’s a gap that needs to be bridged in terms of telling our own stories; not just to inspire the future generation but to eradicate the stereotypes.

“I use my resources to document African stories because I’ve realised that a lot of our stories are being told by people who are not from here. For instance, a lot of people will come from the diaspora to document something that’s happening in my own backyard. And then I’d see our stories through the lens of another person. And most times when they tell these stories, they don’t cover them fully. which is a narrative we’re trying to change. One way to change it is when we Nigerians tell our own stories to paint our picture for other people in the world. The best way to tell your own story is by telling it yourself,” Niyi says.

Social media has been a powerful tool in amplifying this. This year, many artists have gained unprecedented attention and admiration for documenting these festivals – likes, shares, follows, praises and promises to be a part of it next time. Prince Adedoyin Alatishe, the grandson of Balogun Alatishe of Ijebu where the Ojude Oba festival is annually held, says it is the same offline. 

“It’s even more, offline, if I’m being honest,” he says, “Social media has pushed it out there, but the impact it has offline is insane. The old people want to keep up and the young people want to be involved. I’m happy this is happening. After Ojude Oba, the Osun Osogbo festival happened too. Look at the influx of youths and the social media buzz it generated. Ojude Oba next year will be massive. In fact, very festival will be massive because everyone wants to attend now.”

In recent times, young people have taken to heart what’s important to them and social media has been helping. “That is the way forward now,” Prince Adedoyin says, “Niyi Fagbemi’s mini-documentary on Ojude Oba generated over 50 million engagements and impressions on social media. I don’t think there is another way for now. It’s important other festivals and carnivals get on this social media wave. Let’s get more people involved. These festivals are very important for the unity and love of Nigerians. We have a rich culture and tradition. Let’s tap into it.”

But despite generating millions of impressions, Niyi Fagbemi maintains that the documentary is not up to the standard he wanted. “Although I did a video that people liked, from my own perspective, there’s still a lot to be done. When I did the video, I felt like I didn’t do enough justice. But for someone who hasn’t been there, they’d appreciate seeing the video. For my standard, there’s still more to the festival.”

Both Niyi and Taofeek believe that the efforts of photographers like themselves aid social media attention. “I see people gaining so much interest in the festivals through the works they see from documentary photographers like me,” Taofeek says. “It is my responsibility as a documentary photographer to put out works that talk about different cultures, traditions, religions and social changes for the purposes of awareness, information, preservation and acceptability. Photography speaks to people in different languages and I believe the future generations will get to have a glimpse of these cultures if, perhaps, they go extinct. They can get pictorial evidence that these things happened when, where, and for what reasons.”

Nigeria is experiencing what can be called a gradual cultural extinction due to the influence of foreign religions and the lack of cultural understanding by the new generation. According to studies conducted by UNESCO, 29 Nigerian minor languages have become extinct, while another 29 minor languages are in danger of extinction. At a recent event in Abuja, the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Olusegun Runsewe exerts this extinction on Western influences. Niyi says that it has become very important

Numerous aspects of our traditions lack a clear and justifiable representation, and there are a lot of cultures in Nigeria that are not properly documented or at all. There’s an information gap where our culture and traditions are concerned. I’ve been fortunate to travel across Nigeria and every time I share my videos on social media, I always get the comment, ‘Oh, is this Nigeria?'”

Prince Adedoyin says it is “important to document these things ourselves. We should appreciate our own culture and heritage more.” He wants parents to replicate his parents’ actions by taking their children to different festivals and for the government to also help preserve this cultural heritage. “If measures are well implemented, it’s a huge source of revenue.”

There has always been the notion that modernity erases cultural heritage, but the reverse has been the case so far; modern technologies are promoting our culture and traditions. This confluence of tradition and innovation is fostering better representation of our people and society and it is refreshing to witness this era of heightened cultural consciousness, celebration and documentation.