Fred Okafor: We are sitting down with Godswill Arinze Agubalu, a photographer, graphic designer, and motion graphics artist whose lens has long documented our shared survival. Backed by ISDAO and recently shortlisted for the Nigerian Youth Futures Fund (NYFF), Godswill’s work has consistently captured the pulse of collective resilience. But your latest series, The Revisit, feels like a departure. It explores coming home to yourself and owning your identity. Godswill, why this focus on the “self” now? Has your core vision changed?
Godswill Agubalu: My vision hasn’t changed, Fred. I think, now more than ever, that it has only zoomed in. For years, I documented how we survive together. But I realized the “we” is fractured if the “I” is lost. A person can only truly join the collective after they have freed themselves. If you reject your own identity, or inflate yourself above others, you become a broken link. True connection requires the humility of seeing yourself completely.
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Fred Okafor: The series speaks heavily about the courage to “refuse change.” In a world constantly demanding reinvention, why is refusing to change a brave act?
Godswill Agubalu: Because society constantly pressures us to dilute our truth to fit in. Refusing to change isn’t about being stubborn; it’s about standing firm in your authentic identity. In traditional African societies, rooted in philosophies like Ubuntu or the Igbo concept of Igwebuike, the community thrived precisely because the hunter, the weaver, and the storyteller fully owned who they were. Individuality wasn’t erased. Individuality was the foundation of the village.
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Fred Okafor: How does this inward focus actually help us embrace diversity in the broader world?
Godswill Agubalu: You cannot embrace diversity if you don’t first recognize our deep interconnectedness. When you are at war with yourself, you project that fracture outward. But when you accept yourself, you create the capacity to accept others. You have to anchor yourself before you can support the whole.
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Fred Okafor: Looking at these breathtaking images, that philosophy is palpable. The subjects look so at peace, quietly defiant. What do you hope these portraits speak to the viewer?
Godswill Agubalu: I want them to feel a quiet exhale. I hope the images remind people that resting comfortably in your own skin, accepting yourself exactly as you are, might just be our most revolutionary act for the community.
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