Between 5th and 7th October 1967, in the first year of the Nigeria-Biafra War, Nigerian soldiers reportedly killed several hundred people (one estimate puts the number at 2,000) in Asaba. Fifty years later, photographer Obuh Christopher Nelson returned to the town in commemoration of what is now known as the Asaba Massacre.
He imagines his family crowded over his coffin weeping. His mother’s teary face breaks his heart. He knows he’s not ready to kill himself. He cannot do it. He’s too weak.
Of all the luxuries of photography, it is the freedom that it grants to its audience, the freedom to observe with a wealth of interpretation, the reward it gifts those who care to look with the intent of understanding it—that is most appealing.
