In an Exhibit of Compelling Self Portraits, a Photographer Explores His Complicated Origins

In an Exhibit of Compelling Self Portraits, a Photographer Explores His Complicated Origins

“WHO ARE YOUR people?” It’s a very Southern question Dallas-based photographer Hakeem Adewumi has heard since childhood, when he would visit his mother’s family in rural Texas. There, he’d see horses, cows, pigs and chickens — different sights than he and his friends usually saw in the city.


For Adewumi, a gay black man whose parents divorced shortly after he was born and whose biological father is Nigerian, art — especially the art of photography and self-portraiture — is a means to address that question in personal, historical and existential terms, without necessarily providing any final answers. “My work is continually answering and asking questions,” says Adewumi. His exhibit Bastard of the Diaspora, a collection of photographic self-portraits inspired by his Nigerian heritage, African storytelling and black American history and activism, just opened at the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

“That question of what it means to be Nigerian was the starting point for me to explore what it means to be anything,” says Adewumi regarding the impetus for the exhibit. “What it means to be Black, what it means to be Nigerian, what means to be from Texas, what it means to be gay, and where does my voice really originate from all of this?”

Origin is the subject of a photo titled “The Next Kingship Belongs to Us,” where Adewumi poses with a guinea fowl, a symbol of protection, and an ornately framed photo of his paternal great grandfather, who was a king in Nigeria. “Animals are a large asset to understanding where I’m from,” says Adewumi, who fills his photos with symbolically loaded props and relics. “The work is very tactile, but also very imaginative.”

For a long time, taking pictures was more of a hobby than an artistic practice for Adewumi. He describes his mother as a “candid photographer,” who filled albums with family photos, and created an eight-foot-long visual of her son’s family tree. While enrolled at the University of Texas, Adewumi began to imagine a career for himself as a photojournalist, and took classes with Ellis (Eli) Reed, the first full-time Black photographer employed by Magnum Photos, and the award-winning journalist Donna DeCesare. But it was his Black Studies courses that inspired him to consider photography as a personal form of expression, and a way to explore and connect back to Black American and African history and his familial roots.

Danny Clinch’s 1993 portrait of Tupac Shakur for Rolling Stonemagazine, the equally iconic 1864 photograph of abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and a chilling photo taken in 1899 of Frank Embree just before he lynched for a crime he did not commit inspired another self-portrait in the show, titled “Angel of Desolation.” Shirtless and staring stoically at the viewer, Adewumi’s chest bears the words, “I SELL THE SHADOW TO SUPPORT THE SUBSTANCE.” The quote, which Sojourner Truth added to her photo, is a play on early photography’s advertising slogan, “Secure the shadow, ere the substance fades,” which implored folks to photograph their family members before they died.

“Sojourner’s quote speaks to me as a photographer,” says Adewumi. “I’m thinking about what this portrait will mean 25 or 50 years from now, just as Sojourner Truth did. I feel like I’m building this work around that particular sentence.”

'Angel of Desolation'

'The Next Kinship Belongs to Us'

Art + Entertainment
‘Natural Passion’ Makes Fourth-Gen Houstonian Sarah Callaway Sulma a Realty Star

AS A FOURTH-generation Houstonian, Sarah Callaway Sulma has a unique and invaluable view of the city. Her deep seeded connection to Houston led her down the path to becoming one the city's most well-respected, and renowned real estate agents. Sarah's natural passion for the real estate industry from a young age led her to where she is today. "I know that it sounds cheesy, but it is the truth! I wanted to be in real estate from a young age," Sarah shares. "The late-great restaurateur, Tony Vallone, put me together with real estate legend, Martha Turner, and Martha put me together with Cathy Cagle. The rest is history-13 years of success and counting!" Now with over 13 years in real estate and $55M+ in residential real estate sales, Sarah brings a rare combination of knowledge, skill, and advocacy to each one of her clients.

Keep ReadingShow less

THE MEANING OF “cool” evolves. In the ’50s you might have thought greasers were cool, with their leather jackets à la Danny Zuko. In the ’70s, a long-haired activist or a Studio 54 reveler in Halston. In the ’80s, a Wall Street master of the universe?

Keep ReadingShow less
People + Places

Benny Ballarin, Nicholas Condos, James Whitley, Harrison Condos, Fay Whitley

DESIGN AFICIONADOS GATHERED at the Decorative Center of Houston to welcome its latest tenant, Harbour, an Australian company specializing in modern coastal furniture that will be able to withstand Houston's heat.

Keep ReadingShow less
Parties