BOP PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE WEEK: RACHEL SEIDU

Rachel Seidu ( born May 1997, Lagos) is a Photographer based in Lagos. She is very keen on storytelling in her works and explores this through Street/ Documentaries and Artistic Portraitures. She aims to challenge stereotypes with her art, and stir up conversations about wrongs that have now been accepted as rights in Africa as a whole. She exhibited her work at the “Moment in History Exhibition” to commemorate World Photography Day in 2020.

Seidu’s images are not only deeply personal but also multi-layered and packed with symbolism. Capturing images of men in moments of vulnerability and tenderness, the photographer challenges limitations imposed by normative understandings of gender identity and expression in a society that, according to her, is increasingly rigid and oppressive. Breaking gender norms through her exquisite lens, she carves out a space where queerness and gender fluidity are celebrated rather than punished. In doing so, she not only reflects her personal commitment to visibility, but uses her art to rewrite collective visual history and change the social landscape of her own Nigeria.