Adetona Omokanye
Born
Adetona Omokanye

(1990-07-17) 17 July 1990 (age 33)
Erin-Ile, Kwara, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Alma materUniversity of Lagos
Occupation(s)Photographer, Visual artist
Known forPhotography
Websiteadetonaomokanye.com

Adetona Omokanye (born 17 July 1990) is a Nigerian creative photographer. Born in Erin-Ile, Kwara State, Nigeria, he currently lives in Toronto, Canada, having moved there from Lagos, Nigeria in 2020.[1][2] Omokanye has at different times worked on assignments and commissions for Bloomberg, Getty Images, World Food Programme, Eater, Global Citizen among others.[3][4][5][6] His compelling works have earned him international renown and features in several exhibitions and media platforms across the globe.

Education

Omokanye earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science at the University of Lagos in 2013. He then proceeded to obtain a Master of Science degree in marine pollution and management at the same institution in 2017.[7]

Works and recognition

In 2018, Adetona Omokanye worked with German freelance journalist Petra Sorge to undertake a three-month-long documentary investigation exposing occupational hazards, poisoning and environmental pollution within and around lead-acid battery recycling industries in Lagos and Ogun states of Nigeria.[8][9] The three-part media report produced from the investigation on BusinessDay Newspaper was awarded the first prize of the Fetisov Journalism Awards in the Excellence in Environmental Journalism category in 2019.[10] Omokanye has been profiled on the Create Magazine.[11]

Adetona Omokanye is the first Nigerian and African to earn the Creative Bursary awarded by Getty Images and Verizon Media (now Yahoo). He earned the disability-themed grant in 2019 as a third-place winner with his project titled "Beyond 4ft-10inch" which seeks to deconstruct the socio-cultural stereotypes of dwarfs in media and advertising in Nigeria.[12][13][14] He was one of the inaugural Fellows of the Bakanal de Afrique 2020 Artist Fellowship Cohort, and his collection "Fàyàwọ́" which projects the harsh realities of smuggling across the Benin–Nigerian border was exhibited at the Bakanal de Afrique 'Mi Soon Come 2020' exploring the intersections of urban transportation with culture, class and citizenship.[15][16] He got an honourable feature as one of the longlisted contestants for the PhMuseum Mobile Photo Prize in 2020.[17] He participated in the New York Portfolio Review 2021 which is produced by The New York Times photo department and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.

In May 2022, Omokanye made the shortlist for the Contemporary African Photography Prize 2022 with his digital collages exploring the nexus between culture and tradition in Egúngún costumery and contemporary haute-couture modelling.[1][18] In October 2022, the same collection, entitled "Spiritually Fashionable", won him the LensCulture Awards's inaugural Summer Open Awards, alongside 19 other photographers.[19] Pieces from the collection were also part of a public art exhibition entitled "I Am Still Here: Black Joy is Resistance," which showed at Toronto's Union Station from February through May 2023.[20][21][22] Between April and July 2023, other works by Omokanye were part of two other group exhibitions in Toronto.[23][24]

Omokanye's works covering the #EndSARS Protests against police brutality in Nigeria in October 2020 have been featured on various international media platforms including Getty Images, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Times Magazine, Huffington Post, The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, GQ, and Amnesty International.[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] His works on life and society during the Coronavirus pandemic, digital inclusion and devolvement of technologies, food culture and several other themes and social issues in Lagos and other Nigerian cities have also appeared on other international media outlets such as Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, Reuters, Der Spiegel, WORLD Magazine, Eater, Financial Times, CNBC Africa, TechCabal, among several others.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]

In September 2022, Omokanye was profiled in The Globe and Mail as an important Nigerian photographer challenging the "poverty gaze" on Africa by celebrating West African fashion through his works.[44]

He is a member of Diversify Photo, an anticolonial, antipatriarchal, pro-BIPOC inclusionary photo movement; and African Photojournalism Database (APJD), which is a joint project by the World Press Photo Foundation and Everyday Africa.[45][46]

References

  1. ^ a b "CAP Prize – International Prize for Contemporary African Photography". CAP Prize. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  2. ^ "About – Adetona Omakanye". Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  3. ^ "Surprise Uptick in Nigerian Inflation Unlikely to Spur Rate Hike". Bloomberg.com. 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  4. ^ Eater Staff (2020-01-07). "Where to Eat Around the World in 2020". Eater. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  5. ^ "Explosive mix of soaring food prices and conflict drives up hunger by a third across West Africa | World Food Programme". www.wfp.org. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  6. ^ "How I've Kept Thousands of Children in School During the Pandemic Using Only My Phone". Global Citizen. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  7. ^ "Adetona Omokanye". Bakanal de Afrique 2020. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  8. ^ "Dying in instalments: How lead battery recyclers are poisoning Nigerians (Part I)". Businessday NG. 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  9. ^ "Dying in instalment: Foreign buyers pile pressure on polluting company (2)". Businessday NG. 2018-12-17. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  10. ^ "Fetisov Journalism Awards". fjawards.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  11. ^ "Visual Storytelling Through Photography by Adetona Omokanye | Create! Magazine". www.createmagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  12. ^ "Getty Images and Verizon Media award photographers for disability-focused grant". www.yahooinc.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  13. ^ "Getty Images and Verizon Media award $40,000 in prizes to five photographers, as part of first-ever Disability-Focused Creative Bursary | Getty Images Press Room | Latest company news, media announcements and information". Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  14. ^ Dec 4, Debbie Overman |; News | 0 |, 2019 | Industry (2019-12-04). "Disability-Focused Creative Bursary Grants Awarded to Five Photographers". Rehab Management. Retrieved 2022-05-17.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "FAYAWO". Bakanal de Afrique 2020. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  16. ^ "Meet The Fellows - 3D virtual exhibition by BAKANAL DE AFRIQUE". www.kunstmatrix.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  17. ^ "See all the results | PhMuseum 2020 Mobile Photography Prize". phmuseum.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  18. ^ "Contemporary African Photography prize – a shortlist selection". The Guardian. 2022-05-20. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  19. ^ LensCulture. "WINNERS—LensCulture Summer Open 2022". LensCulture. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  20. ^ Wong, Madison (2023-02-12). "Union Station exhibit puts Black joy at the centre of downtown Toronto". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  21. ^ Dart, Chris (February 15, 2023). "I Am Still Here: Union Station's new public art exhibition celebrates Black joy and resistance". CBC.
  22. ^ "I Am Still Here – MakeRoom - Union". Union - Where Toronto is Going. 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  23. ^ "A Constant State of Change Exhibition at Gallery 44". www.gallery44.org. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  24. ^ "Ways of Seeing: Room Up Front Exhibition". Scotiabank CONTACT Photo.
  25. ^ Akingbule, Joe Parkinson, Drew Hinshaw and Gbenga (2020-10-23). "Young Nigerians Came to Protest Police Brutality. Then the Shooting Started". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-05-17.((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ "Lagos Rejects 'Massacre' Findings About 2020 Protest". Bloomberg.com. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  27. ^ "DJ Switch on Her Fight for Justice in Nigeria". Time. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  28. ^ "I'm An #EndSars Protester In Nigeria. Despite The Brutality, We Won't Give Up". HuffPost UK. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  29. ^ "'The lights went out and the shooting started': #EndSars protesters find no justice one year on". the Guardian. 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  30. ^ "These Photos Show What The #EndSARS Movement Looked Like". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  31. ^ Bubacz, Kate. "28 Of The Most Powerful Photos Of This Week". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  32. ^ ""It Was a Horror Show": Inside the #EndSARS Protests Against Police Violence in Nigeria". GQ. 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  33. ^ España, Amnistía Internacional. "Nigeria: 100 días después del tiroteo de Lekki, continúan los encubrimientos y las negaciones de las autoridades". www.es.amnesty.org (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  34. ^ "Nigeria devalues naira as part of path to single exchange rate". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  35. ^ "Nigeria's Commercial Hub Threatens to Jail Covid Transgressors". Bloomberg.com. 2021-05-30. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  36. ^ "Looking in, looking out on the world while under lockdown | Reuters.com". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  37. ^ Anyaogu, Isaac; Kumar, Ankush; Sorge, Petra (2018-12-14). "Nigeria: Wo das Blei aus unseren Batterien die Menschen vergiftet". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  38. ^ "A timely photo prize asks: What does home mean to you?". Financial Times. 2020-07-28. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  39. ^ "COVID-19: Two Years On". WORLD. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  40. ^ "Nigeria: Africa's paradoxical powerhouse". Financial Times. 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  41. ^ "How Nigeria's state lost the trust of its citizens". Financial Times. 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  42. ^ Onuah, Felix (2022-09-06). "Nigeria suspends plan for 5% tax on telecoms despite revenue crunch". CNBC Africa. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  43. ^ Quadri, Sultan (2022-09-13). "Kenyan authorities unfreeze three Nigerian companies' bank accounts". TechCabal. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  44. ^ Parker, Odessa Paloma (2022-09-07). "With his celebration of West African fashion, photographer Adetona Omokanye goes beyond the 'poverty gaze'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  45. ^ "All Members". Diversify Photo. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  46. ^ "APJD members | World Press Photo". www.worldpressphoto.org. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
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