Of moments and memories: remembering and the art of photography in the works of Sunmi Smart-Cole (Published)
Photography has served the purpose of documentation, information, education and creation of works of art. Telling stories without the illustrations such as what photography provides is somehow abstractive. Creative photography as evident in the works of Smart-Cole has aided the proliferation of images arising from improvement in technology than any other work of art. This study investigates photography through the lens of literature; how Sunmi Smart-Cole found his métier in photography and analysed moments and memories in the works of Sunmi Smart-Cole. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with Smart-Cole, and from journal articles, books, and Internet sources. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive approach of art historical research. The study argues that with photography, the world is offered a series of discrete histories and sets of anecdotes and faits divers. It concludes that Smart-Cole’s photographs generally arouse interest, desire and curiosity, they also reflect spontaneity; the narratives are useful memories that aid the remembering of diverse contexts of identity, and the socio-political history of the Nigerian nation.
Citation: Ijisakin E.T., Omolola F.S., and Olaleye-Otunla O.J. (2022) Of moments and memories: remembering and the art of photography in the works of Sunmi Smart-Cole, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.10, pp.1-21
Keywords: Images, Moments, Photography, memories, portraiture, sunmi smart-cole
An Appraisal of Photojournalism Practices in Government Newspapers in Nigeria: Insights from the Observer and the Pointer (Published)
Photojournalism is reporting news through photographs. Photographs tell/illustrate stories alone or in company of texts. Although scholars have provided insights into photojournalism, studies on links between state government newspapers and photojournalism in Nigeria are uncommon. This study investigated editorial provisions for photojournalism; editorial practices toward photojournalism, and the nature of photojournalism in selected state government newspapers in Nigeria. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) provided theoretical framework for the study while data was generated through in-depth interview and content analysis. Findings show that although editors/reporters in selected newspapers are not guided by definite editorial provisions on photojournalism, their understanding of the traditions of newspaper publishing provide “unwritten rules” that encourage photojournalism. Social Issues and Religious Issues were most covered and least covered issues by photographs in the selected newspapers respectively. In spite of the selected newspapers being government-owned, Government Activities were not the most covered through photojournalism. These uphold the assumption of TAM that acceptance of technology in selected newspapers was based on usefulness, attitude, social realities, and professionalism. The study recommends that photojournalists be fair and objective in their duties and shun undue photo cropping/image manipulations in photographs. They should also be careful in captioning photographs to avoid misleading or confusing their readers
Keywords: Caption, Editorial, Grey pages, News reporting, Photography, Technology Acceptance Model
Visual Documentation of Traditional Nigerian Hair Styles and Designs as a means of expressing Social and Cultural Heritage through Photography (Published)
The evolving hair styles in Nigeria today are endangering some traditional hair styles. Many of the beautiful traditional hair styles which identify Nigerians as a people are gradually being eroded, giving way to Western or other foreign styles. As a culture evolves, there is always a need to preserve it. If precautions are not taken to preserve a cultural heritage, it will be lost. This paper explores the use of photography as a tool for documenting traditional Nigerian hair styles and discusses the preservation of those photographs in museums.
Keywords: Documentation, Hair style, Museum, Nigeria, Photography