IN THE WORK OF J.D. ’Okhai-Ojeikere (1930-2014), we see hair as storytelling. Over nearly half a century, the renowned photographer documented thousands of intricate, gravity-defying hairstyles that were the fashion in his native Nigeria after it won independence from the British Empire in 1960.
Before then, hairstyles were social markers symbolizing marital status, ethnic origins, socioeconomic class. With Nigerian independence, they took on political meaning too.
Ojeikere’s work seems to have had a threefold purpose. He captured the resurgence of indigenous hairstyles that had fallen from favor under colonial powers. He documented hairstyle innovations as citizens reestablished their identity. And after a time, his approach became more archival, to preserve the memory of the styles in the face of globalization.
Photographer Medina Sage Dugger, a California native based in Lagos,…
