Yetunde Ayeni-Babaeko left these shores as a five-year-old with her parents and returned in 2003 for a six-month get-to-know-Nigeria trip that got her to settle down here. She opened her Camara Studios in 2007 and has never looked back. Assistant Editor, Life, TERH AGBEDEH, spoke to her.
Ayeni-Babaeko
You do commercial and art photography; do they mix well?
Yes. When you see yourself as an artist, first, to survive, you need your bread and butter. You do commercial work for your survival and for your art. So far so good, it has worked out very well.
A woman in business has peculiar challenges. Do you want to talk about that?
I won’t say challenges, because I am a woman. I think the Nigerian society has been very helpful in that area; because I am a woman, some things might not necessarily be easier but more interesting. I guess the infrastructure of Lagos and Nigeria is quite difficult; so you have your daily challenges, no matter your gender.
You tend to surround yourself with female photographers; is that deliberate?
No, but I guess I can relate with women. I have male photographers as well. Presently, there is no male photographer in the studio, but it is always good to have a man around (laughter). It is always good to have at least one man for the hard jobs. I won’t lie about that.
You studied Photography in Germany. Was it that there was no place to do it in Nigeria?
No, I grew up in Germany. I didn’t have any connection with Nigeria whatsoever because my family left for Germany when I was five, and that was where I did all my schooling. I didn’t even have the mind to come back to Nigeria. I studied Photography, thinking that maybe I would do some courses or study Graphic Design, Multimedia or something like that later. But I got a chance to come back to Nigeria for like six months, and I took it. Within those six months, I decided to stay.
Was that when you met your husband?
Exactly!
Is that why you decided to stay?
Yeah!
What did your parents want you to do?
My parents – especially my mum – are quite liberal. My mum just wanted us to make up our own minds and she was happy that I had something that I wanted to do.
So you made up your mind quite early to do photography?
What I wanted to do, because I had a talent for that, was Graphic Art. But then I started as a photographer in advertising, and after a year I just ditched the graphic art idea.
Is that where the advertising photography bit came from?
Yes, I was 19 or 20 at that time.
You explained why you are doing the Battle Scars campaign on cancer at the opening reception of the exhibition at Goethe Institut, Lagos; is someone dear to you a survivor or victim?
No. I just wanted to make a point that, as a photographer, with your camera, you can make changes in the society, and that is your responsibility: not just to document things and then sell them, but also that you can make money and support somebody with your photography. We don’t have lots of money that we can just donate millions like some other people in oil and gas can do, but we have our camera; so let’s see what we can do with it.
Would you say you have achieved the goal for holding the exhibition?
No, because for these women, it might sound a bit materialistic; but what we really want to get is a lot of money as donations. If you look at these women, once you have really spent time with them, money means life to them; money means a couple of more weeks of painlessness. I am still hoping to raise far more from the exhibition.
How did you get them to say yes to the project and have their photographs taken?
We were working with the founder of Sebeccly Breast Cancer Foundation, a young woman who is also well exposed, intelligent and open to trying new avenues on how to raise funds because she knows how hard it is. So, she asked around among the members who would be willing. So let’s say out of 80 or 100 members, just six or seven volunteered. We had several meetings with them and there were a lot of questions from their side. Of course, they were sceptical at first, but then you know, it is a gradual thing like starting a relationship and then seeing also the bigger picture. Also, while we were photographing the women, I met Mrs. Kavita Chellaram, the founder of Art House Contemporary, and told her about the project. She was so into it that she donated a generous sum of money. So when some of the breast cancer survivors realised that this photography and art thing is not just abstract art, that it can really help us, of course they were even more willing to get photographed.
You held an exhibition of nude pictures titled ‘Shape of Women – Body Landscape’ along with Kelechi Amadi-Obi and Leke Adenuga at the Goethe Institut in 2008 . Are you drawn to the human body?
Yes, definitely! I am a human being. I embrace my body and I am spiritual. The body, mind and soul go together. If you ask me to do a fashion shoot today with all the clothes, glam and bling, I would rather do a nude photography shoot where we would strip down.
Do you have nude pictures of yourself?
Yes. I think it is a more personal thing and it is more about you as a person, your body, yourself and then, the connection is just there. It is more challenging to photograph a body well. The body is an amazing construction, everything, all the shapes. Sometimes when I look at the body, I just see structure, and everybody is structured differently. So, I think that is the fun part of it for me.
