Seeking Beauty in the Metropolis
Females of Lagos 3
Random Illuminations
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
At Art X Lagos, 2017
Taking a night walk along Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, I was captivated by the rhythm of an expansive female backside, the central configuration stretching to embrace right and left with the fullness one associates with an endowed mammary zone, tapering upward in a slender song and narrowing downward in a tight grip on the two legs that stretched beneath, this exquisite expression of natural architecture replicating, in the lower regions, the structure of a superbly shaped upper female body in its undulations between expansion and contraction.
The Discovery on Allen
"I need to capture this moving symmetry for the Facebook group I run on female aesthetics, bringing a touch of the authentic, of real action on the streets, to the often highly staged offerings on the group drawn from professional photographers online", I reasoned. She crossed the road and I followed discreetly behind with my camera, trying to capture the music of the walk without attracting attention to myself, the various kinds of commercial activity on the street bringing the darkness alive even as I pursued my private quest in which the figure of attention was implicated without her knowing.
Having tried a number of times to capture the plump shapeliness of what had been poured into those shorts she wore, I resolved to see if she would be up for proper photography instead of the unsatisfactory images I had got so far from the clandestine effort.
Walking up to her, I called her attention and she responded politely, reinforcing my experience of the amazing politeness of the people I have interacted with in Ikeja. Are these the same Nigerians of whom so many unsavory conclusions are drawn by people, I am still wondering. I complimented her appearance and she became wary. "Can we take this further?", I enquired? "No!" was the forceful response I got as she entered into what was likely her house. No problem. I cannot blame myself for not trying.
Ogechi Uzoka at Mandilas Market, Lagos
Having taking the walk to a satisfactory point, exercising body, eyes and mind through the physical engagement with the rich life of the road, I turned to return home. Almost home, I saw another compelling one. This was a paragon of the balance between sumptuous fullness and exquisite rhythm in the flow of lines from head to feet. The short skirt tantalizingly revealed rich calves under delicate skin. A very direct approach is required to claim this price for my photographic archive, I was moved to conclude, since victory here would be most rewarding. "Can I take your picture?", I asked, as she climbed the stairs to her destination. She looked at me with a puzzled look and declined.
No sweat. Perhaps with consistent effort I could become lucky.
Would these aesthetic embodiments accept payment for their photographs being taken by a stranger engaging in what someone called street photography? How much would be valuable in the puzzle of Nigeria's currency, in which large sounding figures are not necessarily a guide to purchasing value? At what figure does Nigerian currency carry weight for making purchases in Nigeria? At 5,000 naira, I was told when I later enquired. Should I offer that to prospective random models? What do I tell them I want to do with the pictures?
Ami Florish at Computer Village, Ikeja
Keeping one's eyes alive to beauty in all circumstances is vital for appreciating the wealth of the world. I am pleased to observe that a major champion of this form of beauty, the magazine Playboy, has announced it will bring back nudity to its content, having decided last year to discontinue the practice on which its brand was built in response to the flooding of the Internet with nude images, making images of naked women so ubiquitous as to be irrelevant in a for profit magazine like Playboy, they seemed to have reasoned.
A view I see as missing the point of what made the magazine unique in the first place, which was not female nudity in and of itself but the manner of its presentation, the framing of the erotic images themselves and their integration within the rich cultural context Playboy offered, stretching to include such such quality literature as the work of later Nobel Prize winner for literature Ernest Hemingway, the magazine projecting a world reflecting an idea of the complete lifestyle possible for the heterosexual man within Western modernity.
The female form, in any degree of clothing, or without, can never become jaded, will never fail to attract attention and compel payment of money for its display, regardless of the level of society's saturation in exposure to that form. That is a biological imperative, deeply rooted in human being.
I intend to continue to share more of my adventures as my quest progresses in the great city.
Also published on Facebook
Other Photo Essays in this Series:
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