I'M SORRY I COULDN'T BE THERE - 2014 (On-going)


A collection of personal funeral portraits commissioned by the artist. The project started when his grandmother passed away in Obosi, Nigeria. Unable to make the funeral due to practicalities of living in London, the artist pondered on how he could keep an important visual record of the event in his absence. He decided to commission members of his family to take portraits of the deceased on his behalf for whenever he could not attend a funeral.

The often grainy mobile phone portraits represent an attempt to overcome boundaries, distance and circumstances by the use of common digital technology, where the images aesthetics are secondary to the primary mode of capture. The title of the series is based on a conversation the artist had with a member of his family about a funeral that he could not attend to which the only words he could reply were:


“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.”


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