When Ima Mfon moved from Nigeria to the United States, he
was troubled that his culture was subsumed into a broad racial category of
Blackness and pegged with erroneous stereo- types. “I use a plain background to
eliminate any cultural or ethnic context,” he said. “Viewers are not allowed to
place these subjects in the expected settings, whether of urban disrepair or
African wilderness. I want to contest the predictable ‘National Geographic’
approach to peoples who may be unfamiliar to the photographs’ viewers.” The
sparse images are powerful meditations on ethnicity and identity, and reveal
the importance of deeper cultural understanding.