Oye Diran and his Yoruba inspired Photography
Diran draws inspiration from his Yoruba culture especially the Yoruba women style of elegant dressing – Iro, Buba and Gele, a classical and vintage mode of dressing that involves a skirt like garment tied around the waist down to the knees and a wide arm long sleeve top worn by the Yoruba women in Nigeria.
Two of his latest series titled A Ti De which translates to ‘We have arrived’ and Gele meaning ‘Head Wrap’ are example of his Yoruba culture inspired works.
The images for the former featured three models dressed in the vintage Iro, Buber and Gele in beautiful blue and white colours, wearing white shoes, clutching a white hand bag and smiling at each other. It also featured colourful Iro and Buba worn by the models in another setting.
The Gele series which began in 2017 is a representation of the elaborate head wrap worn on Iro and Buba by Yoruba women at parties and social gatherings. It is a style that depicts the extravagance and gracefulness of the African woman.
These culture themed images which have been showcased on numerous global photographic platforms reinforce the beauty and richness of the African culture and ties into projecting African cultural heritage to the world.
Diran, in recognition of his other work titled Maktub won this year’s LensCulture Exposure Award in the single image category.