Rising Stars: Precious Ezeogu

My name is Precious Ezinne Ezeogu and I am the owner and the working visual artist behind the Instagram account “sho_tsbyme”. I am an Igbo first daughter who hails from imo state, Nigeria and I currently reside in Lagos. I have always had a keen interest in creative art and its mediums, but it was not until the end of the previous academic strike for federal universities in Nigeria, that I got pulled by some kind of force towards the art of photography. At first, I was very uncertain about going into it because there is a bias towards photography and how it’s interpreted in Nigeria or so I thought. As I got deeper into this form or art, I found other amazing artists using photography not just as a “photo” on a paper, but as a powerful tool for change to pass on information, to express feelings and to discuss deep rooted issues we face in Africa (Nigeria to be precise). I realized that I could be more, too, and that with the right photography genre I could convey a message as they say  “a picture speaks more than a thousand words”.

My work is mostly centered on people and sharing their individual stories, basically making people who are invisible due to their societal status visible. There are many people struggling in Nigeria who have a unique story to tell and my work in it’s own light tries to shed a little light on their stories. Maybe the whole world can learn a thing or two from them, because as individuals we all want to be seen no matter our race, culture, societal status and values. We all want a place where our individual stories can be told properly and I use my art to do that.