Ada had been travelling on this road for far too long. Six hours must have passed already, and she was still in the tightly packed, overly warm bus. Even then, her excitement was high. Being in the bus that was taking her towards her hometown from the city made her giddy. The plan was to get home and drop her bags, then Cousin Justice would take her to the market to familiarise herself with the women there. After that they would walk around the village a little to see where she could set up a makeshift photo studio.

A small town in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria, Neni is a neighbouring community to Adazi-Ani, where Amarachi Nnoli’s photography project Anwuli: An Invitation to Joy is staged. For the project, Nnoli moves from home to home, her mobile studio in tow, making portraits of those who have consented to pose.

Amarachi Nnoli blends elements of studio photography to examine Igbo identity in Nigeria. Visiting Adazi-Ani, her paternal hometown in southeastern Nigeria, she uses portraiture to explore not only the image of a person, but as a vessel of culture, memory, and representation.