Femi Adagunodo

Sunday Times newspaper

Daily Times of Nigeria Plc

Lateef Jakande Road

Ikeja Lagos , Nigeria

fadaguno@yahoo.com or olufemi@nigerianscene.com or theeditor@4threpublic.com

Abstract

 One of the most visible and striking human identities that photography has preserved are the various marks on the faces of the African people. Piercing or cutting of the upper skin of the face or any other part of the body as an art of beautification or a mark of identity, is popular among many tribes in most parts Nigeria .

However, modern attitudes towards health and fashion have reduced the marking of faces among Africans. Paradoxically, however, the facial mark still remains an attraction in modern times as it constitutes a subject of controversy. I am currently collecting these facial marks through photography for study purposes.

As a researcher and photojournalist, I wish to present a paper and photo exhibition on facial marks, otherwise called tribal marks in Nigeria, at the 2006 IMAGES OF AFRICAN PEOPLE; PHOTOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND CULTURE conference. The paper and exhibition will employ photography to emphasize the systematic deconstruction of ethnic identity and document the identity inherent in tribal marks as exhibited in the photographs themselves.

As the major medium of my presentation will be photography, it is expected that aside educating the world about the identity, fashion, cultural, political and social implications of the African facial mark, my exhibition will also set for me a platform to proceed on a broader research into the phenomenon of the tribal mark through the imaging medium.

I hope that my benefit from the conference and post conference discoveries would amount to an authentic representation and documentation of the outlook of the African people.