NENGI NELSON, SEE ME

This photo series "See Me" was influenced by Victor Frescos' Netflix series “A Santa Clarita Diet” where the main character Sheila transforms into an “undead”. This transformation becomes a powerful story of the changes we sometimes undergo in life and the isolation or bravery that can arise from embracing ourselves. It confronts the often grotesque and unsettling feelings that are associated with body dysmorphia and eating disorders. It uses surreal elements and exaggerated expressions to capture the experience of seeing one’s body through the distorted lens of societal beauty standards.

Through self-portraits, I in turn explore the theme of self-acceptance, confronting the discomfort I experience when I look at myself by examining each part of my body exactly how I saw it as, broken and allowing myself to sit with it and accept it

Bio:

Nengi Nelson is a Lagos-based visual artist, whose works intersect photography and film. She is known for her monochrome photographs that capture the ever-so-palatable and changing Lagos landscape. Using portraiture and documentary-style photographs her works explore herself first then her community through themes like identity, vulnerability and social response/acceptance. She draws inspiration from films, everyday life and issues affecting her immediate community. Her works have been exhibited at the Passport, Lagos Photo Festival, (Lagos, 2019), and female, lockdown views (Virtual Exhibition, 2020), Heinrich Bohl Stiftung, solo installation (Lagos, 2021), Women In The City LUDI X HBS, (Lagos, 2022), End Police Brutality, Forme Femine, (Virtual Exhibition 2022) etc.

She has been commissioned and published by the BBC, Gucci, ATLAS Etihad, Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation, WhatsApp, Centre for Cooperative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), African Women Board, etc

INSTAGRAM HANDLE : @nenginelson1