Tiwani Contemporary presents Pride, an exhibition by Nigerian photographer Andrew Esiebo focussing on male hair barbering and barbershops across eight West African cities (Lagos, Cotonou, Accra, Abidjan, Monrovia, Bamako, Dakar and Nouakchott). This will be Esiebo's first solo exhibition in London and includes works being exhibited for the first time. Esiebo will also create a site-specific barbershop installation especially for the exhibition.
Esiebo's Pride project offers a photographic investigation into the relationship between hairstyles and identities, both individual and collective, and highlights the social and spiritual impact of hair in West African societies. The project explores the material and aesthetic worlds of barbershops, and their role as an at-once intimate and public convergence of people from all walks of life.
The exhibition presents four bodies of work exploring gaps in current narratives of African masculinities: Urban Aesthetics (2012) explores the exterior landscapes of barbershops, with their colourful hand-painted shop signs of utensils and diverse male haircuts; Nuances (2012) draws together the symbols and iconography of global culture found within barbershop interiors; The Barbers (2012) captures barbers in their working environments; and Style (2012) puts the focus on social identity through hairstyles, in relation to African and global black identities.