4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, who was known as Nigeria’s top photographer, started documenting women’s hairstyles in 1968. He built up a portfolio of around 2,000 negatives revealing the elaborate ways African women styled their hair through his series of black and white photos.
A selection of his 'Hairstyles' prints was displayed at the Venice Biennale in 2013. Reena Stanton-Sharma speaks to his son Amaize Ojeikere, also a photographer, about his father’s work.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: 'Hairstyles' by J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere. Credit: TERESA SUAREZ/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
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0:00.0 | Hello, it's Lucy Wersley here and we're back with a brand new series of ladies swindlers. |
0:07.5 | Promise never to mention a word of what is going on. |
0:10.0 | Join me and my all-female team of detectives as we revisit the audacious crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. |
0:19.4 | This is a story of working class women trying to get by in a world made for men. This is a story of working-class women trying to get by. |
0:24.3 | This is survival. |
0:25.3 | Join me for the second season of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history with a twist. |
0:31.4 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
0:45.5 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Rina Stanton Sharma. |
0:54.5 | We're about to take you to a moment in history where you'll hear the amazing memories of people who were there, as well as powerful archive recordings. |
1:00.1 | The program is just nine minutes long, and it comes out every weekday, so make sure you subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts and turn your push notifications on so you never |
1:06.2 | miss a thing. For today's episode, I'm taking you to the Nigerian city of Lagos in 1968. |
1:14.0 | To tell you about the moment a celebrated project, capturing the beauty of Nigerian women's hair |
1:20.5 | was started. It would bring the artist who was widely considered one of the greatest |
1:25.5 | African photographers of the 20th century international acclaim. |
1:30.3 | It's a very touching moment as the Union Jack is brought down in darkness |
1:37.1 | and the Nigerian flag is gradually taking its place to the shouts of all the spectators. |
1:46.2 | Just after the independence, the oil boom also started, |
1:49.8 | so there were a lot of changes, you know, |
1:53.0 | within the structural landscape of Lagos and Nigeria. |
1:57.2 | Well, Leverast was a very interesting city. |
1:58.9 | It was beautiful. It was clean. |
2:03.6 | They just liked to party. I like to live a good life. |
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