Nigeria is a country deeply rooted in conservatism and anti-progressiveness. This has seeped deeply into the very fabric of our social consciousness, bringing into recognition layers upon layers of cultural history and a strong emphasis on preserving tradition. And yet, many of us are largely ignorant to the teachings of our own traditional deities. We know of Gods and Goddesses like Zeus, the sky and weather God who overthrew his father, the king of Titans, Cronus; Hades, the God of the dead, Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and reasoning, who sprung out from the forehead of Zeus, and Aphrodite, Goddess of love and sex. Thus, Nigerian photographer, Temidayo Johnson, aims to bring these spiritual understandings rooted in our own indigenous mythology to the forefront of public consciousness through his project titled Jenmi: Omo Oshun, loosely translating to Jenmi: Daughter of Oshun, in Yoruba.
Although patriarchy ultimately prevailed within local belief systems, a few female deities were shown to successfully navigate misogynistic politics and embody the feminine divine. Among those who spearheaded such political reversal included the river Goddess, Oshun, and her mother, Yemoja, the latter literally translating to mother of fish children in English. Other notable mentions are Queen Idia, Queen Moremi, Amina of Zaria and Dahomey Amazons.
Goddess Oshun, born to one of Nigeria's leading supernatural powers, Yemoja, was one of the most popular and venerated Orishas (spirits or deities), connected to both destiny and divination. Oshun is believed to be indigenous among the people of Nigeria and Benin. Legend details her being sent down to the earthly realm by her mother Yemoja, who was also sent by Olodumare, the God of all gods, to assist Obatala, the Sky Father, with the formation of humans. There are several ways to invoke the powers of Oshun. Professional astrologer Valerie Mass cites three primary methods: a ritual offering for fertility, which contains one pumpkin, one yellow candle, one pencil, one brown paper bag and honey; a ritual bath for love, composing of five sunflowers, one white candle, one bowl, a possession to represent the goddess, honey, cinnamon, and a favourite perfume; a ritual offering for prosperity, which contains five oranges, one yellow candle, one white plate, cinnamon, and honey. Yemoja, her mother, on the other hand, is linked to fertility and barrenness and protector of pregnant women and their children. Certain symbols, such as shells of cowries, beads, pigeons, white cloth, and crystals, are used to depict her presence.
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Artists like Beyoncé are some of those hugely inspired by these Yoruba river Goddesses, channelling their energies into alter-ego performances that leave fans and critics alike mesmerised. In 2016, Beyoncé dressed as Oshun in her video for "Hold Up", a lead song from her album Lemonade. Oshun's primary colour is yellow. She is known to wear an ever flowy yellow dress, draped in an appropriate revealing manner, made from soft but dense fabrics. These aesthetics signal her association with wealth and qualifies her guild with fertility, purity, love, and sensuality.
During her maternity photo essay in 2017, she dresses up once again in yellow regalia, depicting her affiliation with the Oshun goddess. In that same year, during the Grammys, her costumes for Love Drought and Sandcastle performances once again showed how she channelled her inner-Oshun. She was draped in a sparkly yellow-gold dress, with a crown and beads to match, exposing her sizeable baby bump.
High profile Black people across the diaspora visually and very publicly connecting to their ancestral lineage provides a greater platform for learning from African spirituality and folklore, but this impact can only go so far. The patriarchy still lives on, and its existence intertwined with the lens of Wester exoticism and cherry-picking makes a truly thorough portrayal and understanding of this culture to the masses hard to achieve. Heather Jones for Wear Your Voice Magazine, speaks on the importance of authentic representation in this regard and its significance in Beyoncé's work, saying, "this isn't just another piece for TMZ, nor is it merely another account of a Black woman scorned. Her work displays a counter-narrative that transcends the single story portrayed by mainstream media of a strong black woman who takes no shit", she says. "Yonce calls on her ancestors and pays homage to Oshun, the West African goddess of love and sweet waters, to begin the process of healing and reclaiming herself."
Storytelling is such an integral element in documentation and record-keeping, and the country's defunct conservative system is what has forced photographers like Johnson to document the stories of offsprings like Jenmi, the granddaughter of Yemoja, mother of Oshun. Johnson says, "I am very intrigued by African stories, especially the ones that link to ancestry and mythology" He continues with, "and this intrigue is what led me to doing research and finding out about this project."
"Cultural representation and documentation is a key facet for any marginalised community. It aids liberation and educates those who seek to learn."
Johnson, a Geography and Regional Planning graduate from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, is a native of Oyo state, a Yoruba speaking region found in the heart of western Nigeria. He started his career in photojournalism in 2016 while living in the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja, before relocating to Nigeria's most commercial city, Lagos. The photographer, whose work has been featured by fashion brands like LVMH's Lagos Space Program, Banke Kuku, Mazelle Studios and Meena Official, just to mention a few, has juggled between different facets of photography like product photography and portraitures before finding a storytelling bearing in fashion and lifestyle. Hence, the importance of his Jenmi project.
He tells us, "This story was very important because most of us grew in either Christian or Muslim homes, only hearing stories of goddesses from the West". He adds, "We have no clues about our own culture or life story. It is extremely important, especially because there are things we could learn from them".
As the daughter of Goddess Oshun and granddaughter of Goddess Yemoja, Jenmi is imagined through the colour blue, thus her dress in these photos is inspired by shades of this range. As a calming colour, blue identifies with two of the greatest ideas which relate to our overall traditional existence - water and sky. It is also spiritually associated with healing. Jenmi’s affinity with the colour is ancestral, especially seeing that she comes from a lineage of water Goddesses. Thus, her association with this colour offers a sense of her feminine energy, soft power and extremely strong will of persuasion, doing things that words and brute force cannot accomplish. Johnson comments, "From my understanding of Jenmi, I translated her temperament." He continues with, "This is why the pictures are predominantly blue, which matches with her white dress and other adornments, making a visual representation of something that wasn't really made available to us." Jenmi is considered to be cheerful, friendly, curious and sensual. Although she is not a Goddess like her mother, she spans from a lineage of the strongest Orishas in the Yoruba Pantheon.
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Cultural representation and documentation is a key facet for any marginalised community. It aids liberation and educates those who seek to learn. Johnson says, "We already know about certain foreign Gods and their children, like Zeus and Thor, because we were taught about them. But while we know a fair share of our African Gods and Goddesses, there's not much about their children; hence, a further delve into documenting Jenmi". The execution of this project, as earlier mentioned, involved a lot of research and deliberate investigation; working with a team of four, scouting a model, and co-directing with both a stylist and makeup artist, Juliet Elikor. Johnson says, "A basic challenge for this project was how to clearly interpret into images, something there wasn't much information about. But from our experimentation and trial, we're glad that these came out."
Jenmi: Omo Oshun, therefore, highlights the importance of careful and intentional documentation of our cultural heritages and history. It gives a clearer understanding of women’s significance in pre-colonial West African belief and value systems, centring herstory in the face of colonial and patriarchal erasure.
All photo credits go to: Temidayo Johnson. Make-up artist: Juliet Elikor.