A Journey of Discovery
1. What was your motivation to start StudioFactory?
Creating StudioFactory was a very organic process and it came about after our collaboration on worlds un/making. Our creative dialogue was seamless and we knew we had something special to build on.
2. What is the most important thing about StudioFactory?
I think there are lots of important aspects to SF…first it is about creative expression. We are not looking for trends or to copy anyone. We are looking for originality and panache. Furthermore, the SF platform serves a purpose to foreground contemporary photography and design from the African continent. It is important to have a space to explore and express.
3. What does collaboration mean to you?
Collaboration means to join forces, to grow and to achieve bigger goals together. Also an ideal way to learn, to listen to other voices and to be able to let go of one’s own, sometimes selfish ideas for the greater good. Plus, we are motivating each other when things get difficult, we are encouraging each other, and finding solutions together.. and, very importantly… having fun together! Collaboration is a wonderful way to get things done, and I think I prefer it to cooking in my own little kitchen all by myself. As a matter of fact, I think every creative process arises from collaboration, as all work basically descends from a collective mind.
4. What is your superpower?
EO: I think am good at entering a new project without prejudice, with an open heart, full of optimism, ready to do what it takes, whatever this might be and emerging from challenges stronger. My creativity is shaped by a blend of instinct and intellect which drives my imagination, searching for something new and inspiring. A project is like an adventure, which at the end should benefit everyone involved.
AC: Yes, I think you have always been a team player and your optimism is contagious. My creative super power is observing, categorising and immersing myself in the idea. It’s quite spontaneous and thankfully I can summon it at will, but all in all it’s fun!
5. Do you remember the first time you were aware of your creativity?
EO: As a child I started by drawing comics at an early age, inventing stories and characters around myself, the hero… lol…. as a perfect escape from the world around me, which hasn't turned out to be very appealing. Therefore, highly encouraged by my parents I became aware of my creativity at an early age too.
AC: I was surrounded by beauty and creativity while growing up in Nigeria as members of my family were involved in gardening, architecture and fashion. But I became aware of my creativity through the sciences…I could see patterns and rhythms in maths and natural sciences and the same applied to the creative arts. I find both fields very closely linked as they relate to humans in our environments.
6. Do you still feel the same creative energy today?
AC: Yes, I feel it but it feels more intense and urgent. I suppose there are always questions to be answered in our practises and more importantly we are aware of how the world and our relationships to it and each other are ever changing.
EO: To invent a world of my own outside the reality that surrounds me, became, or better has always been an urgent necessity. As with time I got more refined, I could say my creativity increased, but the sense of happiness I feel while working is always the same. Working creatively is my calling and always will be, my whole life revolves around it. So… actually… nothing ever changed.
7.To what extent do you think SF can affect the visibility of African cultural production?
We shall give it our best and continue to support the creative talent we are fortunate to work with. That’s the crux of the agenda for us…to never give up and keep shining a light on the issues, people and places that matter.