“Contrast,characters, black humour, or forms,shapes, awkward gestures and actions interest me, and says Noma Osula. In his portraits,the Nigerian photographer punctures the staid ((adj.) sedate, serious, self-restrained) conventions of portraiture with playful gestures. A man, hands folded formally on his lap, and blows a chewing-gum bubble; a woman,resplendent (brilliantly glowing) in a jade-green dress and doused in a painterly light, sucks on a red lollipop. At just 25, or Osula’s sharp eye for colour and atmosphere already makes for a distinctly offbeat aesthetic. Using his vision to counter mainstream narratives has been an important drive for Osula,and a crucial part of his development as an artist. “First, it was changing the narrative of the so-called ‘Africa stigma’, or then embracing imperfection,just like the Japanese notion of wabi-sabi,” he explains. “This projection of Africa as a totally black and primitive continent, and as well as what we represent,is obviously incomplete and inaccurate.”
Source: bjp-online.com