Philip Agbese Adjusts His Shutter Speed To Promote Nigeria's AilingCulture In An Exhibition Titled "Vanishing Cultures".

The french ambassador to Nigeria,His excellency Monsieur Jacques Champagne de Labriolle,Alice O'Reilly and Philip Agbese.

 Philip Agbese Junior, has embarked on a mission to save Nigeria’s indigenous cultures from extinction.   In an exhibition titled Vanishing Cultures, Agbese attempts to capture some of the country’s unique cultures through his lens and documents them for history.  A total of 30 different photos are on display at the French Cultural Centre, Abuja, venue of the exhibition, which opened yesterday and would run till May 4. It is his first solo outing. 

  Some of the titles include Ochanya’K Idoma, Iworji (The breaking of kola nut) as well as Adan’na (The gathering of spirits).  A graduate of Business Management turned photographer said he chose the medium of photography to launch his  campaign because he believes in the power of pictures to educate, entertain and perhaps, indoctrinate  human minds towards change.

 “Images can tell a story that a thousand words cannot be able to tell and my belief is that when you capture people doing what I can call ‘cultural things’, they speak for themselves.”

  By documenting these cultures in frame, Agbese said he is not only creating history but also reminding his viewers of the inherent beauty in Nigeria’s cultures and tradition and the need to proserve them in the face of challenging Western trends.

  The photo artist noted that the rate at which Nigerians absorb Western civilizations and values are indicators that the next generation may not have anything to bequeath their children in terms of indigenous cultures.

  “When you capture a woman cooking, all you need do is put a pointer to show that at a particular point in history, this is what was indigenous to this people or tribe”, he said.

  “It is inevitable that this will happen. What I am trying to do is to capture a bit of it and document them with the help of my camera before they finally pass away.

“My worries are that our cultures that distinguish us as Africans stand the risk of extinction in the next 50 years going by the threat of civilization. The West is imposing their culture on us. Colonizing us culturally by moving the frontiers of their culture forward while our own is receding. 

  “Children no longer speak their indigenous languages probably because their parents cross married and through no fault of theirs, they are not taught to interact in their local languages or taken to their villages to blend with their age mates.

“Even our dances, our cuisines and dress cultures are gradually fading away. I know they will pass away but what effort are we making in our life time to reduce the pace at which they disappear?,” he asked.

  Adding: “This is what I do with my pictures. They speak for themselves. Though they are subject to individual interpretation but the main message, which is that our cultures are passing away is not lost to anyone who looks at them.”

  But Agbese is not against cultural evolution. His fear however is that certain elements of cultures are often lost in the process. 

  “My belief about culture is that it will continue to evolve but my fear is that in so doing, certain elements are lost. So, I try to find a bridge. 

“I am not trying to help people make up their minds but as a photographer, I am only trying to document something that I see happening and which I know I may not be able to change.

  “This is like history in a making. That is what the exhibition is trying to achieve.

Agbese has been in the business of professional photography since 2003. A 1995 graduate of Business Management, University of Jos, he worked briefly in the Civil Service before picking up a banking job. 

  However, the creative instinct in him remained restless until he opted out three years later to upgrade his training in the art of photography.

  He said: “After three years, I realized that banks structured kind of work was not for me. So, I returned to what I loved doing. I went back and started the training at the end of which I opened a studio. 

Agbese confessed that he derives so much satisfaction and pleasure from his lens because according to him, “it gives me room to make wealth, room to make friends and room to study people. I am still on a journey. It may be a life time journey but I don’t have any regret”, he concluded.

Source The Guardian.