To Have and to Hold: Usman Umar

The Kaduna Fashion and Art Festival (KAFART) is back this year for its 6th overall edition and 1st edition as a biennial. The theme is “To Have and to Hold.” We had earlier spoken to the festival director, Ganiyat Sani, about what this edition promises. We spotlight some of the exhibiting artists and designers, asking them questions about their creative origins, their distinct interpretations of the theme, and how their heritage and local communities shape the narratives they choose to preserve against the threat of erasure.

Take us back to where your relationship with art began. What are your earliest memories of making, and who or what first made you feel that creating was something you could do, and perhaps needed to do?

I didn’t initially plan to become a photographer. It started with a flower I picked and photographed almost instinctively. I shared the picture with my sister, and her reaction and encouragement stayed with me. After that, I started photographing everything around me. In 2023, I moved to using an SLR camera, and that was when I became more intentional about photography and developing my own visual language.

This year’s theme, “To Have and to Hold,” asks what we choose to hold, what we let go, and the cost of holding on. When you first sat with those words, what did they stir in you, and how do they show up in the work you’re bringing to KAFART?

It made me think about the things we carry every day, both physically and emotionally, and the things we grow up around that become normal to us. Sometimes, we don’t realise the importance of a moment until it’s gone. Photography gives me a way to keep some of those moments, even when life moves on. That is one of the things I think about when making photographs.

Tell us about the piece, or body of work, you’re exhibiting. What is the story behind it, and what do you hope someone feels or understands when they stand in front of it?

The photograph is titled Tulu Ta and was taken in Maraban Jos, Kaduna. I was drawn to the moment and the child in front of my camera. There’s something about the simplicity of the scene that stayed with me. I wanted to photograph it as I saw it, without taking away from the feeling of the moment. I hope people can spend time with the image and look beyond what is immediately visible, finding their own meaning in it.

Take us through how your work comes to life, from the first spark of an idea to the moment you know it’s finished. Which materials, rituals or habits are essential to you, and is there anything about your process that would surprise people? 

A lot of my work starts with noticing things around me. Sometimes it’s a person, sometimes a place or a moment that makes me want to stop and take a picture. I pay attention to the environment, the light, the way people carry themselves, and how everything comes together in the frame. Editing is also important to me because it helps me bring the image closer to how I want it to feel. I’m still learning and experimenting, but I want my photographs to carry my own way of seeing things.

KAFART asks what endures in the face of erasure and forgetting. Is there a story, tradition, skill or memory from your culture, family or community that you feel is at risk of being lost, and how does your work help you hold onto it?

I think a lot of the everyday things around us deserve to be documented more. The way people live, the things they use, how children grow up, and the details of our communities can easily be overlooked because they’re familiar to us. But these things are part of our story. Through photography, I want to pay attention to them and create images that people can look back on. Not everything needs to be extraordinary to be worth remembering.

What does it mean to you to show your work at KAFART, and how has your community, your city and the way you grew up shaped the way you see and make?

Showing my work at KAFART means a lot to me because it’s an opportunity to share how I see the world with people who might experience it differently. Photographing in places like Maraban Jos has made me appreciate how much there is to notice in everyday life. The people and environments around me influence the way I see and make pictures. I’m glad to be part of a platform that creates room for these stories to be seen.

What is the work you haven’t made yet that excites you most, and what do you hope people carry with them after experiencing your work at KAFART?

I want to keep making work that brings together people, fashion, culture, and everyday life. There are still so many stories around me that I want to explore, and I’m interested in finding new ways to photograph them without losing my own perspective. After experiencing my work at KAFART, I hope people leave with a greater appreciation for the things they might normally pass by without a second look. Sometimes, the smallest moments stay with us the longest.