This Ordinary Light: The Quiet Art of Bukunmi Oyewole

By: Ozolua Uhakheme

Apart from its aesthetical values, photography, with the evolution of technology, has taken on diverse roles beyond its singular essence. Among those whose magic comes not from a wand but from a camera and flashes is Bukunmi Oyewole, a Fine Art photographer whose photography etches a mark like cobbles on the sand of time, giving infinite touches that make nature call more than twice. His art stands as a bridge between memory and meaning, capturing the fleeting in forms that feel eternal.

Bukunmi’s style is distinct. He ceases to follow the floodgates of photographers who venture into other parts even where spaces beg to be freed. Instead, he chooses paths where few legs tread, where angels bread, and never dread. Here, he finds himself, even while he finds the angles and the stories.

Every human action emanates from either the intrinsic or the extrinsic values being held. For Bukunmi, his choice of this path is quite intrinsic. His soul yearns for nature and the existential cause. To a lay man, Bukunmi’s art is inept in the discourse of life, because it’s bare and a miniature of what should be focused on. However, the colossal has a  beginning and it’s in the littlest of all. Therefore, in this, Bukunmi finds peace, bliss, and can never be tired.

“Headlights” shine brightly through a mildly dark-dominated background. They are just beneath the flashes of the lampposts which light flashes stay still as if they are being splashed and glued mid-air. In the dark, too stay calmly two trees with branches that shield emptiness, and wandered thoughts of those who cross the road. The headlights and tail lights of moving cars form an artificial lightning, one that is shaped like a striped ribbon. The colours, the angle, and the focus on the “Headlights” tell the tales of how our lives leave behind trails of impact, even after the moment itself passes.

This could be named “Silhouette” as it captures not only the figure of a hunter, his dane gun, his machete, his dog, his wife carrying a bundle of firewoods, and his baby at the back. The white clouds settle gently on the blue sky, which form a backdrop to this silhouette. The picture is a pictorial oxymoron: the placing side-by-side of the opposite in the same picture. Of course, the angle caught is the silhouette which is dark, but its backdrop is a light that brings its own beauty. 

“The Lonely Soul” is not only wrapped by a wrapper, and a black body with mustered strength, but by the light-brownish colour and hot atmosphere of the desert-like landscape. Yet, the picture found the woman carrying a vegetable which symbolizes a gift in a land as dry, and graded as that. Bukunmi Oyewole deepens into the camwood of beauty his lenses and finds out the allure even in the scarcity of lush green.  

“Little dreamy lights” are found in an array of blue, yellow, white, and red lights, which the dark sky serves as a backdrop. It creates a curvy path for the lights to shine through. Here, Bukunmi Oyewole borrows a style from phosphones, and captures this night scene as if his lenses are humans’ and closed a bit in a dreamy view to capture these light balls. This might have been a traffic jam, but instead of this predicament being taken to heart, Bukunmi tells its tale like that of constellations, with beauty and elegance.

Bukunmi Oyewole’s work reveals that within moments of chaos or frustration, quiet beauty often lies just beneath the surface, waiting to be seen. He transforms a common, stressful experience into a moment of wonder, inviting us to see the world not as a series of problems, but as a collection of stories. Through his art, Bukunmi suggests that a shift in perspective can turn a mundane commute into a magical journey, full of its own unique and beautiful stars.

Bukunmi Oyewole is a photographer known for creating moving compositions through his lens. His lens transforms everyday scenes: headlights become glowing lines, silhouettes become contrasts of light and dark, and traffic lights turn into constellations. He finds stories in solitary figures, showing their strength and grace. Oyewole reminds us that photography is about revealing what’s hidden and making moments last forever. His art blends beauty with reflections on memory, meaning, and the poetry of life.