The Sitters
Photographs by Nnebuifé Kwubeï, Sierra Nallo, Light Oriye, and Ubani Chidindu, previously featured on Tender Photo.
In all four photographs, the sitters are positioned in the center of the frame, and all except one show a lone figure.
Nnebuifé Kwubeï’s photograph of Ekene, a woman from his hometown, is distinct for its portrayal of a settee, seen nearly full-width. The setting, unlike the others, is indoors. And, according to the photographer, the effect he sought might justify the choice of location. “She reminds me a lot about home,” he writes.
If her glance indicates less the welcome of a visitor than the scrutiny of an errant child, then the items strewn about—a ludo board, pack of toilet paper, a plastic table–exude the homeliness Kwubeï describes. For Sierra Nallo, the photograph of a sitting figure “came about quite naturally.” That is, the photographer found a place fitting for her purposes, at a time of day when light and colour could combine in near perfect consonance. Notice, for instance, how the hue of robe worn by the sitting figure is similar to that of the wall and window frame, also that of a jug seen through an entrance on the right. The mood in Nallo’s photograph is mellow, as if to soften the impact of seeing the flamboyant costume of the sitter.
And it is the colour chosen, for Light Oriye, that makes his sitter’s hair special. Yet it is also a photograph that most aptly points to the patience required to get a good shot of a saleswoman sitting in front of her shop. Perhaps she is used to holding herself with such placidity, especially in the interval between the arrival of a customer and a sale.
For us who look at her portrait, her patience comes with its reward: the near-choreography of the mannequins, her lean face in profile, the lengthy trails of fiery hair, the fix of her eyes. The varying shades of red in the picture, the dangle of her raised feet. And also, we might learn something of the character of stillness in the length of time between a pose and a perfect record of it.
Only in Ubani Chidindu’s photograph do we see two sitters—one woman sitting on a chair, the other on a spread of grass. “I wanted the photo to be simple, have a cosy feeling, and to make her hair the main subject,” explains Chidindu. The hair might be the subject, but the exchange between both women is worth observing. ••••
This is the #11 edition of CONCORDANCE, a series of micro-essays in response to sequences of photographs previously featured on the newsletter, which will end next week. These notes, inspired by CORRESPONDENCES, points to affinities in style, mood, or theme between the tendered photos.
TENDER PHOTO is a bi-weekly newsletter on African photography, published Wednesdays and Saturdays. See the archive for more features on early to mid-career photographers, or submit your work. If this newsletter was shared with you, consider subscribing, or forward to a friend. Please whitelist the newsletter to ensure you never miss it.