Àsìkò Artist

Àsìkò is a visual artist who expresses his ideas through the medium of photography and mixed media. He was born in London, England and spent his formative years in Lagos, Nigeria and adolescent years in London. His work is constructed in the narrative that straddles between fantasy and reality as a response to his experiences of identity, culture and heritage.

Àsìkò Artist

INTERVIEW BY THOMASINA R. LEGEND
images by Asiko

Model: Jo
Makeup: Halima
Hair: Denise Grace Coleman Jewellery: Anita Quansah

Model: Paula
Makeup: LoriB
Hair: Gracia Coleman
Styling: TrendyRail
Jewellery: Pebble London

Àsìkò's project ‘Layers’ was featured on the BBC and Huffington Post and exhibited at the South Bank in London. His recent project Adorned was recently exhibited at The Gallery of African Art in London and made up his first solo show at Rele Gallery in Nigeria.

He currently creates works in London and Nigeria.

Apart from Gallery and Exhibition work, àsìkò creates portraiture work for clients in the Fashion, Entertainment and Music industry.

I catch up with this visionary man to know how it all began for him, why he chose photography and discuss the concepts behind some of his photography series.

Before committing to photography, can you give us a quick background into what you did previously from your education to career, as I am aware you have a science background? Yes indeed, I have a science degree in Chemistry and a Masters in Bioinformatics. Back then I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have the intuition towards art I have now.

At what point did you realize you wanted and needed to commit fully to photography and what influenced that realization and subsequent decision? I don’t feel there was an eureka moment in my transition which is still ongoing. I feel I progressed naturally between careers and was decidedly cautious as I have a mortgage and responsibilities.

During your period of self-education, can you take us through how you educated yourself? Self-education is a strange one as there are no guidelines or anyone to help direct your path. I was like a sponge at the beginning, soaking everything from photography blogs and magazines. Initially I focused on technique on how to use the camera proficiently and what makes a good image. After a while I slowly discovered that beautiful were not enough for me and so I started to read up about art, go to museums and galleries. I still feel like I am self-educating and sometimes wonder whether I should have gone art school, but another debate for another day.

Why do you prefer doing conceptual photography to other genres? I love that I can play with ideas and concepts, mauling them over and stretching them out. I believe photography is an expressive art form that allows us to talk about the things we want to talk about, reveal our secrets and express our point of view.

How would you describe your work? My work is autobiographical and charts my journey of self-discovery. From exploring my issues of mental health to my discovery of womanhood and my African heritage, my work is a form of expression and therapy. My work moves between the reality and fantasy and is informed on how I see the world.

Over the years you have created some amazing work and perfected your craft the best way only you could and that takes having an imaginative and creative mind. How do your concepts for your images come into thought? Thank you that’s very kind of you to say. I believe we are all products of our environment and what we consume. My concepts and ideas come from my experiences and the things that shape me. I feel my childhood and things I saw inform some of the work I produce. For instance the ‘Adorned’ series started from a memory I had as a child at a ceremony in my mothers township in Ogun state. At the ceremony I was transfixed by a woman I came across, she was a tall and powerful woman who carried herself with dignity and pride. She wore layers and layers of jewellery and seemed to command a level of reverence at the ceremony.

That is very interesting. I have read you state on Instagram in one of your posts that you rarely if ever focus on other photographers work to get inspiration for what you do which I believe is a great thing because it promotes originality and uniqueness because I feel the industry is just shrouded in imagery that are either overly similar or direct replicas of the sources of inspirations from other photographers. That being said could you talk me through the various activities that propel inspiration for you to create? I get inspired by other forms of art; paintings, sculpture, music, cinema, fashion, etc. I don’t have any activities that I would say propel inspiration, well not that I know of. If I want to be inspired, I may go and see a play or go to the museum. Inspiration is all, I believe we just have to be open to it.

True. I completely agree with you. When you first embarked on your new journey into the world of photography, what was it like trying to find a great team to work with and what were some of the prevalent responses that you got? This was a hard one initially as not many people were open to collaborating. I was the new kid on the block (which I still feel like) and I didn’t really know anyone. My wife initially started styling my shoots when I was thinking I wanted to go into fashion photography. I don’t feel I have a team and I am not sure I might ever go down that route. I pick certain creatives for certain projects because of the kind of work they do. I try and pick people for the kind of work they enjoy. This is different for commercial shoots which is more about how good they are and their availability.

What are some of the things you wish you knew when you started out? I wish I could tell my younger self to create what was important to me and that creating work is deeply personal and shouldn’t be based on someone else’s preferences.

Before we go on, can I just ask what your art name ‘Àsìkò's’ means and why you chose that as an alter ego name? It means ‘the moment’ in my native language Yoruba. Back then when I choose the name it worked my idea of what I thought photography was about, capturing moments. I still think that is the case but what I do is not necessarily about capturing moments. I orchestrate and direct the moments to tell a story. The name has taken on a new meaning as my work has evolved.

As an alter ego name, does that mean that you transform into someone else headspace wise to be able to create magical images? LOL no not really.

You have created some amazing photo projects over the years and I have selected some of my favourites that I would love for you to tell us more in-depth about. The first has to be the ‘Adorned Series’. Tell me more about that effortlessly stunning series and how the idea came about, what it represents, means and what message you wanted the series to portray. The Adorned series started from the recollection of childhood memory of a woman I came across at a funeral, she was tall, dark and had fierceness in her disposition. She seemed quite important as everyone seemed to revere her. She was layered in jewellery of different textures and sizes. I believe this formed the aesthetic basis for the adorned project. Out of that memory I decided to start exploring womanhood and its confluence with culture, more so my African culture. I am interested in exploring beauty imbued within black women and how strength plays a part in that portrayal.

Amazing and truly the images do reflect that in every way. The next series is the powerful ‘Skins’. Why did you choose to focus on the skin? What resonating message were you trying to convey through this series and what does the skin in itself mean and represent to you? Skins was an interesting project that I have currently parked. I feel I need to look at it differently and go deeper, so I am giving it some breathing space. I was interested in exploring skin in a physical and metaphorical way; the colour, textures, and designs of skin. Metaphorically I wanted to understand how comfortable women are in their skin and how that reflects in identity and personality. It is currently incomplete but I hope to start it again next year.

The third is ‘Unearthed’. As bizarre and unusual as it comes across, it is actually exploding with hidden narrative and a weirdly captivating beauty that I would like you to expound on, explaining why you created the project and what you were trying to achieve. I love that project and I will definitely be creating more images in that vein. The images explored my relationship with my father, the process of hurt and healing.

What representations do the nails, branches and flowers mean and why did you use these particular items? Hurt and Healing, they exemplify aspects of my journey through the process.

A lot of people face challenges or encounter grave issues on their journey of creativity that either strengthen and toughen them up or terrifies and pushes them to quit the game. What were some of the challenges and struggles you faced when you started out, how did you deal with them to be able to push past and break through to be as successful as you are now and what specific lessons did you garner from the entire experience? Photography is a big part of my life, it helps me explore how I see the world and engage in it. I am not sure I could ever quit being a creative as it is very much part of who I am, successful or not. If you are passionate and love something, you will do it regardless of whether you are successful or not. Yes you can have setbacks and take a break but you ultimately come back to it.

You endeavour to take the time out of your busy schedule to post on your Instagram with meaningful, insightful, enlightening and extremely sound advice and quotes on ‘Self-Worth’ and Self-Belief’ and also what to do, how to do things and the realities to expect detailing that the road is not an easy one, an act that I really admire because creative people go through some of the toughest seasons of self doubt, self loathing and slowly slither in depression when they start out and things are not as they seem or what they had anticipated. Did you at any stage of your photography journey feel lost, questioned your ‘self-worth’ or feel alone in the game with no one to help or understand what it feels like hence the post updates?

I left all those things. I questioned my self-worth and felt I wasn’t good enough to exhibit work and be successful. As a creator I feel loneliness comes with the territory as creative people tend to be introverts and live in their own heads.

My Instagram posts are about my state of mind and the things I am experiencing in my photography journey.

If you did go through those dark days of unworthiness, can you share with us how you handled those days and how you pulled through? I think most artists go through periods of self-doubt and wonder if they will be discovered as a fraud. My saving grace is my faith in God and understanding that I am loved and worthy.

Another insightful post of yours that talks about going beyond social media to market your art got me thinking to ask you to please you this platform to help educate us on the various ways other than social media platforms this can be achieved. It's a very useful piece of information to have especially for emerging photographers. (it was a post about you saying photographers don’t buy other photographers images, if you remember) Beyond social media artists need to engage their markets through networking at events. Social media is a good tool but not always enough to get your work out there. I have met some of my best contacts by going to gallery openings or any other type of creative event. I don’t always enjoy the events but feel they are important to meeting some interesting and connected people.

In 2014 you did a stunning shoot for TV personality Eku Edewor & Lynxx, with a concept that pulled out all the stops when it comes to rich heritage and I must admit I was very surprised when I later heard and read some of the very angry backlash surrounding the shoot. How did that make you feel and how did you deal with that entire negative connotation that was thrown at something created out of love for a rich tradition and heritage? Honestly I wasn’t moved, a bit surprised but not really moved. People will always infer what they can from artwork, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. I am here to create, promote conversation, affect change and cause disruption. I haven’t intentionally gone out to do these but I am becoming more aware I have to power to be able to. One of the blessings of being a creator is the ability to cause a reaction in people emotionally.

Better a reaction than no reaction.

Absolutely true. What advice would you give to others who ever find themselves in the same twisted kind of moment? As an absent minded fish once said “Just keep swimming”.

LOL yes that is a brilliant one. I think I will definitely be using that one. Over the course of your career thus far, you have had a great number of exhibitions from London to Lagos. First, how important are exhibitions for a photographer and secondly how did you go about getting your first one? (Am asking because a lot of people do not know these things and your knowledge and experience will be very valuable).

Exhibitions are very important; they raise your profile within the art world and call attention to your practice. They are essential if you want to develop as an artist. My first major exhibition was at Rele gallery in Nigeria. The owner Denrele found my work on Instagram and we had conversations and went through a trial period to work things out. I was fortunate really.

My exhibition in London was at the Gallery of African Art who also found my work on Instagram and contacted me, through which we started a good working relationship. I have been fortunate with both galleries. I think new artists should challenge the usual ways of disseminating their work. Yes there are galleries but there are other ways and artists need to find new and innovative ways to show work (food for thought for myself included).

How would you say your work has evolved over the years? I am slowly progressing into the best version of myself, this parallels my photographic evolution where my work has developed and has become more personal. It has developed more into the things I care about. When I started taking photographs I was looking for moments but now my work is created and more about the moments that define me and my journey.

What’s next for you going forward? Are there any special projects or another genre of photography or perhaps film that you would like to take on as a challenge? If I told you, I would have to kill you. LOL. Ok I am working on some ideas about rites of passage, warriors, sculpture, that’s all I can say.

That sounds really brilliant and I look forward to seeing what you create. You are full of inspirational, motivational and very insightful advice and it would be great to share some very profound words of wisdom for anyone considering photography as a career path? Don’t do it. LOL. Find your visual voice and create what is most important to you. This involves digging deep and going on your journey. The thing I have found is I learnt more about myself and grew as a person. My personal journey was intertwined with my photography journey. Also never ever give up.

Amazing. Thank you so much for your time and insightful words of wisdom and incredible journey.