What project were you investigating or developing during your research at Angles and Muse?

I was working on a book which uses the face as a point of entry to explore visual culture and how Africans have been represented in photography over the years. My research was on photography history, both on the continent and in the diaspora, tracing our representations from slave portraiture down to contemporary portraits by young African photographers.

Were there any local materials, histories, or conversations that found their way into your work?

My work is research-based, so I was seeking out these histories and conversations related to visual culture. Many made their way into the book. But I can’t talk about that now.

How did your time at Angles and Muse conducting the research shift, expand, or challenge your practice?

While at the residency, I was paired with the photographer Prince Uhunoma Charles, who was exploring something similar to what I was working on. And I was struck by how, at certain times when we were discussing, we would realise that the text I had written aptly described a thought he was exploring visually. It showed in the synergy between my texts and his photographs, which we paired for the duo exhibition that closed out our time at the residency. Our conversations also gave me new angles from which I could develop certain parts in the book.

What kind of support during your research was most meaningful to you?

I’ll say everything. Being provided a quiet space, a life curated around creativity. All the chores that would normally bog down my daily life were removed. There was a stipend to cater for my daily needs. So not having to think about anything but the work gave me a clear headspace to write without distraction.

What is currently inspiring your thinking or practice (a book, film, conversation, research, place, etc.) — and why?

Recently, I’ve been drawn to the films of Agnes Varda, who was important to the French New Wave. She did what she called cinécriture – cinematic writing. And she came into filmmaking from a practice of photography. I’ve found myself inspired by her style. Her documentary The Gleaners and I is one I often think about, as well as her feature film Vagabond, which, despite being fiction, was shot documentary-style. I like artists who blur the line between genres, whose works are difficult to categorise. Since this is something I am trying to do in my writing, I find myself drawn to anyone who does this, regardless of the medium they operate in.