Paris Photo: J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere

Artworks list

For Paris Photo 2024, MAGNIN-A gallery is paying tribute to Nigerian photographer J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere with a solo show featuring his iconic Hairstyles series.

J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere was born in Nigeria in 1930. At the age of twenty, he bought a modest camera on the advice of a neighbor who taught him the rudiments of photography. It was in 1968, on the occasion of a festival organised by the Nigeria Art Council, that Ojeikere started his Hairstyles series. Outside or in his studio, he photographed many characteristic hairstyles from all over the country. Each time he asks his model the origin, meaning, name and history of the hairstyle. He takes several photographs of each hairstyle (front, back and profile) but focuses particularly on the backs, which show their sculptural aspect. Ojeikere was probably the first African photographer to approach this work with the awareness that it was a work of art. For him, hairdressers were artists, hairstyles sculptures and Hairstyles series was an artist's work.

Everyday, party or ceremonial hairstyles, each model has a specific meaning. Ancient sculpted heads, which he also photographs in collections and museums, show that today's hairstyles already existed more than 2000 years ago. Some models have lost their original meanings in favour of new ones, and this is what Ojeikere's work is all about: “I have never stopped taking photographs, both as a memory of the past and as a testimony to the changing culture”. His work as a photographer contributes to the preservation of the Nigerian culture and the transmission of a unique anthropological, ethnographic and documentary heritage. “There is a structure in this work similar to that of hairstyles that already contain methodology and beauty. This work has a conceptual aspect but I also put all my feelings into it; it is both objective and subjective.”

The vintage prints of the Hairstyles, unique prints made by the artist, were collected and glued by him in an album that he considered as the result of a collective work where everyone is in search of beauty: the hairstyles are executed by one person, worn by another and photographed by a third. The vast majority of these vintage prints were acquired by the Centre Pompidou in 2023 thanks to the support of the Amis du Centre Pompidou association. We are delighted to be presenting two exceptional pairs on our booth, the only prints available on the market. These vintages will be accompanied by 30 modern photographs, prints made under the artist's supervision and signed between 2000 and 2013, the result of a long collaboration between the photographer and his printer Philippe Salaün.