In Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, artist Taiye Idahor works with strands of human hair, which she weaves with coral beads. This is how she creates intricate works of art.
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00:01Welcome to Lagos, the economic capital of my country, Nigeria.
00:07Lagos is a coastal city situated on the shores of West Africa.
00:13I'm Djiboke Soho and I'm a visual storyteller and cultural producer.
00:18Let me show you my city.
00:20Lagos has a population of roughly 15 million people,
00:24which makes it the biggest city in Africa.
00:27Nigeria broke free from British colonial rule when we gained independence in 1960.
00:34And today, Lagos is a vast city that sprawls across four interconnected islands.
00:44From the humble floating fishing community of Makoko,
00:47to the city's upmarket suburbs that are home to 6,000 million years in US dollar terms.
00:59And after dark, we know how to have a good time.
01:06Over the years, I've documented my city through art and cultural productions.
01:11Let's hit the streets of Lagos.
01:18Our first stop is the working class area of Leki Peninsula.
01:28Boss Nigerian women, our hair is very complex.
01:33It is political, it is cultural, it also has historical element.
01:37Taye Idao is an artist who embraces all of us in our work.
01:43Taye's visual language consists of depicting strands of human hair interwoven with coral beads.
01:50Why did you decide to approach your work, you know, from this perspective?
01:55It was really because of my own hair.
01:59This was my first solo exhibition, Revolution.
02:04It was about kind of seeking out my personal grandmother,
02:09but using hair as a starting point because she's unknown to my family.
02:14And then I'm left with this coily long hair that is unique to me.
02:20Taye's hair is different from many other Nigerian women.
02:23As a child, Taye was often told that she must have inherited her hair from her grandmother.
02:32Although Taye has pictures of other family members,
02:36she knows nothing about her father's mother.
02:39It was about kind of seeking out my personal grandmother.
02:44You know, who was she, where was she from?
02:45And obviously because of my hair, it was clear that she wasn't from the African continent, you know.
02:55So my hair became the starting point for that journey of, you know, finding this woman.
03:01So it was kind of remnant that's left of this woman that's unknown to our family.
03:07Taye grew up in Benin City, in Edo State.
03:10And she was influenced by a local culture.
03:14The late queen mother was revered and so was her son.
03:18The Oba, who is the king.
03:21Taye draws upon the traditional coral beads of Benin culture
03:27and combines this with human hair to create this intricate artwork.
03:31The beads are still very relevant today.
03:35So the images that I use, for example, are of Benebrides because they kind of copy, you know, this adornment that's won by the king.
03:46Let me show you the process of how I do the layering for the collage.
03:52Cool.
03:53I'll show you my collage drawer, where all my collage stuff are.
03:58So this is some beads that I cut out.
04:02Then you see the hair?
04:04So these are some of the images.
04:05I'm going to cut them out.
04:07Do you want to cut something?
04:09I would love to do that.
04:10I want to try my hands in this.
04:12I think women have always been in that light where we are constantly doing stuff in the back.
04:20Which is why, for me, it's very important to tell women's stories.
04:24Because there is a lot that women are doing and they make a lot of contribution to society.
04:30And usually the image that we get of women are always in this sense of models or beauty.
04:40But, you know, nobody's really talking about the important stuff.
04:44We don't necessarily have to, like, be in the forefront.
04:48But I think it's important that people are at least aware of what we are doing behind.
04:54Absolutely.
04:55So this is, in a way, an acknowledgement of women's role and also importance as well.
05:02And power.
05:04My time with Taye has me reflecting on how her works might be feminine and layered.
05:10But they carry their own quiet power of women's stories in what is often a male-dominated society.