DOF
(Depth of Field)
KELECHI AMADI-OBI, UCHECHUKWA JAMES-IROHA, TOYOSI ODUNSI, AMAIZE OJEIKERE, EMEKA OKEREKE AND TOYIN SOKEFUN
Artists' collective, Depth of Field (DOF), live and work in Lagos,
Nigeria, and have over the last four years developed a productive
collaborative practice. Their work largely centres on the city of Lagos
and its inhabitants. A vast urban sprawl and home to 13 million people,
Lagos is projected to be the third largest city in the world by 2025.
Crime, affluence, poverty, gentrification, the dispossessed, street
life, daily business and city travel, and a thriving hip hop music
scene are some of the topics addressed in their work. DOF follow a
well-established tradition of photo-documentary in West Africa,
bringing both topical concerns and aesthetic/conceptual interests to
their work.
Uche James-Iroha, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, Toyin Sokefun, and Amaize Ojeikere
founded DOF in 2001. Toyosi Odunsi and Emeka Okereke joined the
collective in 2003. DOF members live in various districts of Lagos and
portray their respective surroundings from a variety of angles. The
central theme of the work of Toyin Sokefun and Toyosi Odunsi is the
pulsating daily life in the streets of Lagos and in domestic settings.
Uche James-Iroha and Kelechi Amadi-Obi, by contrast, stage their
photographs, creating images that bring out other aspects of the
reality of the city. Amaize Ojeikere documents the colorful,
bewilderingly dense market life in Lagos, whereas Emeka Okereke use
photography to speak of memory and loss.
