By Japhet Davidson
It is going to be a panaroma of colours for art lovers especially photograhy lovers as one of the foremost promoters of arts, Sylverscreen arts is set to give them a special treat in a photo exhibition tagged The Colours and Flavours of Lagos, a photo exhibition by Dayo Akinbode.
For Dayo, who claimed that she had no formal training in photography other than putting to practice what she read online to improve her skills, the unique exhibition which is the fall out of the lockdown and travel restrictions is scheduled to hold from 9th to 11th July, 2021 at the Museum hall, Freedom Park , Lagos.
The University of Ife, Ile-Ife graduate of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering who worked in many establishments before retiring to pursue her passion of running to travel and traveling to run, in the course of her job travelled to many cities of the world where she saw things in different ways. And that it was her experience while in the various travels and runs that pushed her into photography.
Colours and Flavours which is her first solo exhibition is a way of bringing the images to the public. “The lockdown and travel restrictions made traveling a bit difficult so I have been running on the streets of my city. Running on the streets of my city opened my eyes. There was so much beauty to behold that I soon found out I could not run by.
I often had the compulsion to stop in my tracks and capture the moments which I shared with my friends on my phone camera. The positive feedback made me go out more to capture and share more moments.”
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According to Dayo, “The Colours and Flavours of Lagos is a group of photographic prints culminating from sights encountered during my running and cycling the streets of Lagos. The works in this series were all captured with a phone camera and gives insight into the elements that make Lagos a unique city.”
It features about 35 stunning images of special moments of sunrise, sunset and blue hour frozen in time and documented to be shared with generations yet unborn.
According to her, “the intention is to nudge viewers to see our Lagos through lenses that see half filled glasses rather than half empty glasses. Seeing this way will help us appreciate and embrace the uniqueness of a city to be proudly shown to the world. It is my wish that the photos displayed at the exhibition will be pleasing enough to the sight of the viewers to make them want to hang the photos on their walls.
Most importantly I hope Lagosians will see the beauty lurking in the corners of our city and proudly showcase our city to others with the affirmation that Itesiwaju Eko lo je wa logun ( The progress of Lagos is our utmost concern).”
For the ordinary girl who has always liked to challenge herself viring into photography is a way showing people her experiences so far as a runner and traveller.
Dayo has participated in many epic adventures. In 2014, a group of friends and I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest lone standing mountain in the world. That experience made her desire to take up more challenges and in 2015, she joined a group of other adventurers on the Triple 7 Quest which was an attempt to run 7 marathons on 7 Continents in 7days.
In 2019, she also participated in the highest road marathon in the world. The Pakistani adventure which admitted all Finishers into the Guinness World Book of Records. Her last outing was in March of 2020 when I participated in the first marathon in Yemen but her quest to run a marathon in every country was brought to a halt with the advent of the pandemic.
Other events she participated include the Ile-Ife Heritage Marathon, a platform she used to showcase the culture and heritage of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe to the global running community and to the world at large.
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