Boy in Picture: Peniel Manai Yakubu.

Photo Title: Manai.

Date of Creation: February 17, 2020.

Location: Ungwan Boro, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

From the stables of Shotstoryz Photography, this photo was shot with a reimagination of a poet in the body of a black boy.

It is one driven by a bittersweet nostalgia that never stops to hover. It portrays the sacrifices of a typical African surviving the strains of an educational curriculum that does not hold as many strategies in facing the harsh realities of life as it should.

It portrays the struggles of the African in the mastery of wielding the pen whose manual isn’t with his/her mother tongue.

“Manai” is a reflection/representation of the African in their quest to attain what they’ve been taught is key, & power.

In Picture: Treasure Mudiakevwe Oyiboghare.

Photo Title: Starving Grief.

Date of Creation: May 18, 2020.

Location: Ekehuan Barracks, Benin, Edo State, Nigeria.

This digital visual art promotes the pursuit of inner peace amidst chaos, & uncertainties of life.

It also portrays joy, hope, & rest in a world always thirsty for tears. This picture is starving the god of grief its libation. It’s a reflection the photographer’s mood after making a steadfast commitment to never let his lamplight dim in the storm.

In Picture: Rejoice Dauda

Name of Photo: ‘Soulitaire’

Date of Creation: November 20, 2019.

Location: Ungwan Boro, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

This digital visual art is dedicated to girls caged behind chocolate bars with rape stories buried underneath their motionless tongues; those suffering from rejection; those whose voices have been suppressed; casualties of oppression, hate speech, & many others that choke their existence in the dark.

“Soulitaire” is a protest against gender stereotypes that tries to lock up, in solitary confinement, promising girls with purpose/vision burning in their hearts.

In Picture: Peniel Manai Yakubu.

Name of Photo: Topazine Eye.

Date of Creation: April 8, 2020.

Location: Ungwan Boro, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

“Topazine Eye” seeks the need for research, & awareness for those living with the genetic condition of sickle cell anaemia. It seeks to echo/amplify the heart cry of those neglected, & portrayed as weak/incompetent.

It calls for society to join hands in strengthening health agencies involved with this condition, & also those in their painful crisis fighting for survival.

In Picture: Mendos Philips.

Title of Picture: Bars & the Boy.

Date of Creation:  May 8, 2020.

Location: Ungwan Boro, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

This photo is a cry in the ears of justice, & society. It seeks to protest against unfair jail terms, & other sentences for crime. It’s for all those put in prison for no just reason, & are left to rot away in confinement.

“Bars & the Boy”  is a call to the boy child to turn his back against violence, & every beast that mounts his mind to be inhumane. It also cautions him about the consequence(s) of his actions towards keeping or breaking the law.

Martins Deep is a Nigerian poet, photographer, & currently a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. His works have appeared, or are forthcoming on Writers Space Africa, Agbowo Magazine, Coffee, The Ducor Review, The Peace Exhibit, IconTowers Studios UK, & elsewhere. He is deeply passionate about telling the boy child stories in his poems, & photos. His photos are richly themed with true, relatable African condition. He is the brain behind Shotstoryz Photography. You can reach him via email: musette777@gmail.com