The Soft Issue
Profile
August 2017
She wrote to the HOD of the Department of Mass
Communication, Dr. Saudat Abdulbaqi. She assured her of
the department’s support and her conviction heightened.
All the top-ranking officials of the department, faculty,
as well as the university would be present, including
the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gabriel Olatunji,
who had represented the Vice Chancellor, Professor
Abdulganiy Ambali. The exhibition would be a success
because the department, the faculty, as well as the
university had owned it.
When Dr. Kadiri speaks of FotoClique you can hear the
smile in her voice. The small dream she had is now a
mainstream success. Why, because all the people that
mattered owned the project, collectively, the way one
does to one’s belonging. She cannot believe how much
sense of belonging her department and the school have
bestowed her.
“To think this is something I was scared of doing at the
beginning. Now it has happened. The university provided
accommodation for the resource persons; hall and
other forms of support. I am indebted to the university
from the beginning to the end. My family, the university,
my colleagues and my students are indeed part of my
success story.”
Presently, Kehinde Kadiri is fronting a community
outreach group, The Health Builders initiative (TBHi).
TBHi is a human-centred collective that conducts
outreach programmes for rural communities. The
group has conducted malaria prevention campaigns,
distributed long lasting insecticide treated nets, drilled
boreholes, donated clothing materials and also drilled
borehole for communities in Asa Local Government
in Kwara State, Nigeria. The group had started as a
photography movement with no humanitarian interest
at all. But through its compelling photographs it started
to document the life of ordinary people—with focus on
rural people—and from there it became an intermediary
between these people and their prospective helpers.
Immediately you step into Kaykay’s office you get the
drift. She is an avid lover of arts in any forms. From
contemporary Nigerian pop music to abstract art, these
things interest her. There are books lined on her shelf.
There are art works, both hand-made and digital, hanging
on her office walls and lying on her desk. She has given
most of these art works away. Except for a few personal
favourites. Like the one she got as a parting gift from her
twin brother, Taiwo. It is that of a native woman made from
what appeared to be cow bone or tusk. The pieces are
held together on a green velvet mat-board. The woman is
breaking free. This is what welcomes you to her office. This
art work is more than just something hanging on the wall.
It is symbolic. Every morning when she enters the office
Taiwo comes to her mind. She places her laptop on her
desk. She is ready for the day’s job.
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