Just as fashion trends change with the times, so do hairstyles. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Nigeria-based J.D. Okhai Ojeikere documented more than 1,000 of these stunning, almost sculptural designs by finding his subjects along the every day streets, at wedding celebrations, and in offices. The series, entitled Hairstyles, features an extensive assortment of braids, buns, ringlets, curls, and twists presented both as a creative series as well as a documentation of Nigerian trends and culture more than 40 years ago. The artist describes Hairstyles as “An opportunity to devote himself to Nigerian culture, to which he is deeply attached.”
By eliminating or minimally showing his subjects' faces, Ojeikere blends lines and shapes, hair texture, and elegant necklines together into elaborate compositions and invites his viewers to experience the meticulous styles as abstract, black and white forms. Ojeikere says, “All these hairstyles are ephemeral. I want my photographs to be noteworthy traces of them. I always wanted to record moments of beauty, moments of knowledge. Art is life. Without art, life would be frozen.”
