OLAJUMOKE ORISAGUNA : GRACE. (PART 2)’ Aso kan na ni mo wo kiri Lana ‘..
Jumoke the ‘model’ the Internet had been searching for speaks almost no
English. She explained how she had worn the exact outfit in our
photograph the day before and someone showed her her own photograph on
his phone from face book. A mallam led her to my studio that morning .
She narrated her journey to lagos …A hair stylist from Ire in Osun
state but not making enough profit between she and her husband , a
sliding door installer in from same village ,to care for their two young
children .
At the invitation of a distant relative who knew someone operating a
bakery , she relocated lagos with her 14 month old daughter to give
bread hawking a try , leaving her husband and older 5 year old behind .
As I listened to her I wandered if the beauty I had seen on my screen as
I edited my image was a fluke ..well until she smiled ., I realized
that I was wrong ., I had in fact ,underestimated the beauty of this 27
year old woman. As always ., it was her eyes and of course her perfectly
chiseled features that jumped out at you when she chuckled .This lady
belonged in front of my camera .After a conversation with her husband
telling him the story of our meeting I decided I was going to photograph
her that very afternoon..Within an hour ..Bimpe Onakoya , one of
Nigeria’s leading makeup artist and Zubby one of my favourite
hairstylist were at my studio to work magic. They had both followed the
story online and were more than happy to put in their very best for her.
Olajumoke .., with curly extensions out ,revealed a short natural Afro
that beautifully hugged her [email protected] also had decided to keep
the make up minimal… She stepped in front of my camera and I almost
couldn’t recognize her . She moved different too.Jumoke looked straight
into my lens emoting like she had done this all her life …. I knew we
had found a star
OLAJUMOKE ORISGUNA : GRACE ( part 3) During the course of the day,
@emaedosio who was making a short documentary about the process had
asked her what she really wanted to do .
‘Ka ma kiri Buredi ko suwon ‘ she explained that bread hawking wasn’t
the most profitable business but put enough food on her table . It also
put a roof over a head .. Howbeit a roof she shared with scores of other
hawkers .
She was a trained hairdresser back in Osun state but her family could
not afford the necessarily ‘freedom ‘ ceremony ; a passing out ritual
that gives a trainee a sometimes unwritten permission to start a full
fledged salon .
We all decided that the make over would be incomplete if it ended at the
studio . Every one started to reach out to their contacts and through
Bimpe we were able to get her a meeting with Ugo the pioneer of Make-me
salon .
As a result of the buzz she generated from the Thisday cover Our model
is now close to starting an internship at @makemesalon and has been
offered a additional internship with @sarisignature a famous Lebanese
owned salon on the island island .
To pay Jumoke her model fee from her first job in front of the camera we
called @_ujumarshall one of Nigeria’s And matched her fees .She’s been
offered a modelling contract with the help of @godsonukaegbu from a
@fewmodels .She’s also had @payporte reach out to her to be model on
their next billboard campaign .
This is clearly only the beginning of another chapter in Jumoke’s story . Though it seems accidental it s clearly Devine .
Just this morning ,mentor of mine offered to foot the bill for her
accommodation ,education as well as her child’s .. This finally makes it
possible to be finally reunited with her husband and older child .
