BIOGRAPHY

1930 Born Nigeria

1950 Purchases Brownie camera

1954 Becomes darkroom assistant at the Ministry of Information in Ibadan

1960 Nigeria gains independence

1961 Okjeikere becomes studio photographer under Steve Rhodes at Television House Ibadan, the first television station in the nation

1963-75 Publicity work at West Africa Publicity in Lagos

1967 Joins the Nigerian Arts Council

1968 Begins documenting Nigerian hairstyles

1995 First solo exhibition in Nigeria and included in exhibition in Switzerland, the first time his work is shown outside of his country

2000 Solo exhibition at the Cartier Foundation in Paris accompanied by a monograph begins a series of exhibitions throughout Europe, North America and Japan

2014 Dies in Lagos, Nigeria

SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2014 J. D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Hairstyles and Headdresses | Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London, UK

2011 J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty | Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Moments of Beauty | Center for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria

2010 Sartorial Moments | Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria

2009-10 Hairdos and Parties: African Typographies by J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, USA

2005 Hairstyles: J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere | Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston, Texas, USA

2004 Joy of Life: Malick Sidibé and J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Two Photographers from Africa | Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

2002 Hairstyles: J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere | Wedge Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2001 J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere | Galería DV, San Sebastian, Spain

2001 J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Hairstyles 1968 – 1999 | MAMCO (Musée d’art moderne et contemporain), Geneva, Switzerland

2000 J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere | Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France

1999 Nigerian Traditional Hairstyle | Goëthe-Institut Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

1995 J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere | National Arts Council, Lagos, Nigeria

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022 Dialogues in Transition. Photographs from the Walther Collection | Kunstammlung NRW K21 , Dusseldorf, D

2021 Hair Stories | Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA

2018 Photography Spotlight | V&A Museum, London, UK

Structures of Identity: Photography from The Walther Collection | Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, NL

2017 The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY, USA

2016 Faces from Places | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, New York, NY, USA

2015 Telling Time: Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale Africaine de la Photographie 2015 | Bamako, Mali

In and Out of the Studio: Photographic Portraits from West Africa | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

Tyger, Tyger: Lynn Chadwick and the Art of Now | Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, USA

2014 Shaq Loves People, Expo Chicago | Flag Art Foundation booth, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, USA

2013 International Art | Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday | Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA, USA

Paris Photo Los Angeles Art Fair | Paramount Pictures Studios. Los Angeles, CA, USA

2012 - 13 Cheveux Chéris | Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France

2011 - 12 Recent Photography Acquisitions | Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA

2010 - 11 The Global Africa Project | Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY USA

STARE: The Pleasures of the Intensely Familiar and the Strangely Unexpected | Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA

2010 The Idea of Africa (re-invented) | Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland

A Midsummer Gallery Soiree | Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA, USA

REPRESENT: Imaging African American Culture in Contemporary Art, part of National Black Arts Festival | Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA, USA

70s Photography and Everyday Life | Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands

70s Photography and Everyday Life | Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville, Spain

INDEX I.0 | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

AIPAD | L. Parker Stephenson Photographs, Park Avenue Armory, New York, USA

2009-10 70s Photography and Everyday Life | Museo D’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy

2009 70s. Photography and Everyday Life | Teatro Fernan Gomez, Photo España, Madrid, Spain

Exposição Nós | Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Art Brussels | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

2007 Art and About | Sidney, Australia

Documenta 12 | Kassel, Germany

Art Cologne | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

Photo London | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

2006 100% Africa | Guggenheim Bilbao, Pigozzi Collection, Bilbao, Spain

About Africa Part One: Seydou Keita , Malick Sidibé , Jean-Dominique Burton, Jürgen Schadeberg , J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

Vive l’Afrique | Galerie du Jour – Agnès B, Tokyo, Japan

2005-06 Arts of Africa | Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C., USA

2005 Arts of Africa | Grimaldi Forum, Monaco

Vive l’Afrique | Galerie du jour – Agnès B., Paris, France

African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection | Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA

2004-05 Kurzdavordanach | Photographischen Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Mediapark, Cologne, Germany

2004 Je m’installe aux abattoirs Collection agnès b. | Les Abattoirs Frac Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France

2003-04 Nous Remontons de la "Calle" Toutes les Photographies! | Galerie du Jour agnès b., Paris, France

Parures de tête, Musée | Dapper, Paris, France

2003 Highlights from the collections of Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris:
William Eggleston, Beat Streuli, Bill Viola, Vik Muñiz, J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Pierrick Sorin | BildMuseet Umeå universitet, Umeå, Sweden

Fables de l’identité. Oeuvres de la collection NSM Vie / ABN AMRO | CNP Centre national de la photographie, Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, Paris, France

Art Brussels | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

2002 Collection in Context – Recent Photography Acquisitions | The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA

2001 Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis | Tate Modern, London, Great Britain

2000 Africa Inside: Noorderlicht 2000 photofestival | Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

Africa: Past-Present | Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

La Beauté in fibula | Palais de Pepes, Avignon, France

1995 Nigerian Contemporary Art | World International Property Art, WIPO, Geneva, Switzerland

1995 First National Creativity Exhibition | National Theatre, Lagos, Nigeria

1983 Ten Top Photographers | National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria

1978 Photography in Advertising | 50th Anniversary of Lintas Limited, Lagos, Nigeria

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2015 Telling Time: Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale Africaine de la Photographie 2015. | Catalog. Germany: Kehrer Verlag

2010 Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity.

Contemporary African Photography from The Walther Collection. | Steidl.

2009 Willis, Deborah. Posing Beauty African American Images from the 1890s to the Present. | New York: Norton.

Exposição Nós Exhibition catalogue. | Brasil: Museu da República

2008 Harney, Elizabeth editor. Flava: Wedge Curatorial Projects 1997-2007. | Toronto: Wedge Curatorial Projects.

2006 100% Africa, Exhibition Catalogue. TF Editors & FMGB | Bilbao: Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.

2005 De Lima Greene, Alison; Alvia J. Wardlaw and Thomas McEvilley. Africa Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Exhibition Catalogue, Merrell and MFAH.

Domino, Christophe and André Magnin. L’art africain contemporain, SCALA.

2004 Schürmann, Wilhelm and Susanne Lange. Kurzdavordanach. Gedenwart als Zwischenraum, Exhibition Catalogue, Editions Revolver Books.

2003 Parures de Tête : Hairstyles and Headdresses, Exhibition Catalogue, Editions Dapper.

2002 Geo, Photos, June 6 (German publication).

Hair raising, Azure, June-May (Canadian magazine).

Ojeikere: Hairstyles, Word, May (Canadian magazine)

Jordan, Betty Ann. Crowning Glory, Toronto Life, May.

2001 Century City: art and culture in the modern metropolis, Exhibition Catalogue, Tate Modern, Tate Editions.

El peinado como objeto de arte, El Diario Vasco, February 6.

Agirre, Joxean. Amets eder baten anzeko orrazkerak dituten neskak, Gara, February 7.

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, en Donastia “Cortes de pelo, hairstyling”, Gara, February 17.

Gonzalo, Jon. Okhai Ojeikere: Orrazkera artearen pareko jardueratzat dugu Nigerian, Egunkaria, February 7.

Grandjean, Emmanuel. Ojeikere ébouriffe le Mamco et Hafif lui donne des couleurs, Tribune de Genève, February 21.

E.D., Le Mamco change de look avec J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere, Tribune de Genève, March 16.

2000 Magnin, André. J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere/Photographs. | Germany: Cartier Foundation with Scalo

La Beauté, Exhibition Catalogue, Palais des Papes. | Avignon, France: Editions Flammarion.

J. D Ojeikere. Africa inside, Noorderlicht, Stichting Aurora Borealis.

Ojeikere, Fondation Cartier in Tnago, Daily Times, January 26.

Ojeikere décioffe à la Fondation Cartier!, Photo, no. 368, April.

2000 Vouge, Photo, April.

Magnin, André. L’Afrique de dos, Jalouse, May.

Vérdenne, Elisabeth. “Inventaire au peigne fin”, L’oeil, no. 515, April.

Ojeikere’s Hairstyle stun France, The Guardian on Sunday, May 14.

Ryle, John. Head Strong, The Independent on Sunday, The

Sunday Review, May 21.

Bender, Wolfgang. J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Porträts afrikansher Frisuren, Entwicklungs – Politik, May.

Diva, no. 7, June.

Kuntz, Joëlle. Moments de beauté en Afrique – La coiffure comme oeuvre de l’art africain, Le Temos, August 10.

1996 Nigerian Traditional Hairstyles, Exhibition Catalogue, GoetheInstitut: Lagos.

AWARDS

2011 Chobi Mela Lifetime Achievement Award in Photography, Bangladesh

Nigerian Photography Award, Lifetime Achievement

COLLECTIONS

The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Baltimore Museum of Art, MD

Philip and Murial Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA

Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

Cartier Foundation, Paris

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Collection agnès b, Paris

Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, CA

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France

Newark Museum, NJ

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL

NSM Vie/ ABM Amro

Pigozzi Collection

The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York

Tate Modern, London

V&A Museum, London

The Walther Collection, New York and Ulm, Germany