(By Tolu Oye as told to Claudia Owusu and
Kanyinsola Oye) - The
Nigerian-American Siblings Using Traditional Family Portraiture to Celebrate
Their Heritage
Photographs have
always been a way for my family to hold on to our past—no matter how far we
moved, or how complicated the idea of “home” became for us. Growing up in
Columbus, Ohio, I keenly remember my mother dragging me and my siblings every
year to the JCPenney Portraits studio for our family picture. What made the
ritual so uncomfortable was that we were not dressed like other Midwestern
families at the mall. My mother had us all in matching golden-brown-and-beige
traditional ankara, an African wax-print fabric with vibrant patterns.
