Fisherfolk is a photographic study of a shoreline community residing on a narrow strip between the Lagos Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. Fishing forms the core of their cultural identity, and it also contributes to their daily survival. Hence, their way of life is defined by ancient knowledge of the water.
However, this way of life faces significant challenges from modernisation and coastal development. Urban expansion and environmental degradation are visibly altering the shoreline, reducing traditional working areas and threatening their core identity and means of survival. Younger individuals, facing economic uncertainty, are migrating to urban areas, disrupting the vital transfer of traditional knowledge.
This project seeks to record a culture on the verge of disappearance, preserving their rituals and labour through visual storytelling.
Ololade Olawale is a visual artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Lagos, Nigeria. His practice explores the human condition through an observational study of community structures, daily labor, spirituality, and environmental adaptation. Working across photography and moving image, he is interested in the stories embedded within everyday life and the ways people navigate, inhabit, and shape their environments.
Through projects including Fisherfolk, Kissed by Scarcity, Lake of Thirst, Realms, and Ojú Ọrun, Ololade examines the social fabrics, lived realities, and cultural identities that emerge across diverse landscapes and communities.
His work has been exhibited internationally and locally, including at Paris Photo Week, The Oculus in New York, the New Culture Collection in Ibadan, and the Primavera Digitale Renaissance Exhibition in Florence, Italy. His work has also been featured by Guernica, The Nation, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. His photography was featured as the cover art for Years of Blood by Adedayo Agarau, published by Fordham University Press. As a recipient of the NewComma Grant, Ololade continues to develop evocative visual narratives that bridge documentary observation and fine art photography.
