Favour (br0wnn_sugar) is a Nigerian artist currently based in London. She paints, she sculpts, she takes photos and she has a fresh way of looking at self-portraits and using this to define her identity. In her “passport photo-series” , each photo displays Favour wearing a different hairstyle (all self-styled) and channeling personas from Janet Jackson circa 1993 to a traditional woman from Favour’s homeland in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. She titled the project ‘A Statement of Pride’. “My hair is mine. I can do whatever I want with it, no one else is in control. It’s my power, my strength and my crown. I can wear it anywhere and in any way I want to”, says Favour. This project led to her participation in a recent iPhone X campaign. Following the theme of ‘A Statement of Pride’, she styled her hair differently everyday and took passport photos of each style. The entire collection of photos was a self-love piece showing the true beauty of black hair and the joy of self-realisation. To Favour, identity is “the thing that you carry with you. You identify with what’s in your heart.” With each new hairstyle, “you don’t necessarily become a new person, but you do take on a new persona, like an alter ego. It’s just being yourself and being able to do that transformation yourself is something that’s quite magical.
