. When and how did you first learn about the enslavement of African people (a/k/a slavery, the slave trade)? I grew up in Hertfordshire; I was the only African at primary and junior school. At junior school, I was always involved in competitive games i.e. marbles. And would always be the first to choose the person to start the game off. Ini mini mineie mo was the standard selection process. One day we played marbles at home. My auntie heard me chanting the rhyme. She pulled me aside like I’d stolen something and pointing her finger at me told me to never say the word ‘nigger’ or that rhyme again, she gave me the briefest history of the origin of the word ‘nigger’ - slavery. I never used the rhyme or the word again. I was probably eight years old.
2. How did that knowledge affect you at the time? It didn’t affect me until I saw Roots whilst at secondary school. I was in the first year. The night after watching, I walked into school like a soldier. I remember it so clearly. I only looked forward, I didn’t say hello to any white person. I didn’t trust any off them. That’s when I began to see a pattern of a two-faced personality that most still have.
3. How does your knowledge and awareness of the history of the enslavement of African people affect you as an artist now? How does it influence your work? As a photographer, I stay away from negative images; I also like to represent the truth. For instance I would never airbrush a model to make her skin look smoother. I also try not to venture down the road of producing typical images that are taken from African (black) photographers.
How have you personally experienced enslavement as and/or Emancipation as an artist? The European photographic market is not my life line so I do not and will not face problems with my art. Criticisms from artists regarding my work have only improved my vision on what I would like to capture with my lens.
How can we as artists uplift our people, i.e. people of African heritage? How can we as artists liberate our people? How can we as artists unify our people? We all have a story to tell. That’s why we were given the skills/talents we have. The truth always shines through and lives forever. However, we have to be smart when we are educating our people. We must understand our materialistic preferences that hinder our desire to see ourselves naturally and learn about our true past and future. We have to understand what the target audience likes and are used to and then influence them with our art to understand the story our art is aiming to teach them.