Celebrity photographer and one of the most respected photo
journalists in Nigeria Sunmi Smart-Cole is reputed to be an encyclopedia of the
social and entertainment circuit of Nigeria especially Lagos, his base. It is
widely believed that any socialite Sunmi does not know is not worth knowing. That
was how the powerful 75rs old retired journalist held the society in his palms
during his hay days.
Sunmi, who has wined and dined with royals , presidents
and captains of industries recently went down memory lane, sharing tales about
his life as a barber who specialized in making people beautiful when he was
younger. The interesting part of it was that he did not go for any training to become
a barber; he taught himself how to barb.
Interestingly, he was believed to be the one who
introduced Kennedy style haircut in Lagos. He was the only one who could do it
at that time according to friends and his barber’s shop, called Sunmi’s Place,
somewhere along Alagomeji area of Yaba, Lagos, became a rendezvous for hippy
youths.
As he celebrated his birthday recently, he took to his
Facbook page to reveal his younger life as a barber. This he simply painted
below…
“My barber shop ... located at number 1 McEwen Street off
Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba, Lagos -1968.
I borrowed £40 (forty pounds) sterling (to pay rent -
£12.10s, to buy equipment and furniture) from the late Chief ADETUNJI SOYODE,
paternal grandfather of Mrs.DOLAPO OSINBAJO, wife of Vice- President, Professor
'YEMI OSINBAJO.
The shop was also a Cultural centre. People came to read
foreign newspapers and magazines (during the Civil war, luxury items like
foreign publications, butter extra were banned. The ban was lifted at the end
of the war, in 1970.
They also came to listen to Jazz, Soul and Classical
music.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, they came to find out
where the parties for "hep-cats" and the "in-crowd" will be
held.
I started operating the shop 1967 and I shut it down, in
September 1972, when I migrated to the United States of America (to live
"permanently" (I returned home after ten years).
I lived in Mountain View, California, where I worked with
VIDAR Corporation as a Technical Illustrator and Architectural Drafter ... I
began my study of photography (part-time) in 1976, at Foothill College, Los
Alto, California.
I staged my first photography exhibition at Stanford
University's Coffee House, (Tressidar Union), in 1978. I was invited to exhibit
at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, in December 1978, by the Executive
Director of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Mr. Frank Aig-Imokhuede
(father of banker Aigboje Aig-Imoukuede.
I have since exhibited in five continents; I am a
multiple award-winning photographer”.
No comments:
Post a Comment