Nigerian photographer, Damilola Onafuwa took to the streets of Lagos to document incredibly passionate and emotional photographs of the Lagos 6th of February protests against the extreme conditions of living and working throughout the country. It is enough to say that these burning images speak for themselves and immortalize the emotions and pain felt on the day as well as the beauty of the unity in the moment. He has taken great care in capturing and translating the atmosphere of the protest into these well-crafted images against the backdrop of Lagos.
This will go down quite significantly in Nigeria's history especially because the protest was "canceled" a few days before by its instigator musician, Tuface Idibia after he had reportedly been harassed into canceling. We are not some shady press agency who needs to be "transparent" or 'unbiased' or whatever (it's all propaganda anyway) so I'm gonna go ahead and say it seems like Tuface was bullied by APC members on Buhari's behalf to put a stop to the protest but we'll leave that to Scooby-Doo and his gang to figure out. It's also nice to know that the government feels threatened by the uprising of the people.
It's things like this that really creates unity amongst hate and suppression. It is generally a time of high political and social tension not just in Nigeria but across several countries with multiple protests being held daily all over the world and specifically against governments or government policies. It makes me extremely proud to see Nigerian citizens using their voices and democratic power as I am Nigerian myself. And studying the images you do see and feel a range of emotions; pride, pain, love, joy and even ironically patriotism and all the different colors are what make them so striking.
You can see more of Damilola's work on his Instagram @damilolaonafuwa. You will also be seeing more of Damilola's work on here so stick around for more great work!
-Steph
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