Speaking of seeing myself in the media, imagine my excitement when I saw the trailer of Malika on Youtube!! A strong, powerful, female animation lead with contexts that were more culturally attuned to mine!! Where do I sign up?!?! A few weeks later when I saw the Red Carpet screening at the Mike Adenuga centre, I knew I had to go and see for myself. Yes Lagos had a comic convention and the animators brought their trade!

I got there and there were multiple pop up booths with the different animations and comic books written by Nigerians and featuring Nigerian characters. It was so refreshing. I met @call.me.dami doing incredible digital arts illustrations. Young and fresh and so so so talented! I was so excited to see her and energized that she was claiming her place in this space typically dominated by men!

Nollywood is doing better and better, and creating content for younger viewers. Hopefully the animations progresses into more educational, culturally-enriching, appropriate, and even more representative curated content for my young girls.

We really do not understand the importance of representation. We are what we see. And unless we see ourselves more in positions of power, girls, and women (especially my brown skin girls) will continue to conclude that they also don’t belong in those positions of power. So this post is a shout out to you @call.me.dami, and my girls, and women. Strive high for yourselves and so other women can see you and know they belong too. Defy the mainstream media. You’re more than just a wife or a mother, and your skin does not limit you. 

Photocredit: Illustration by Call.Me.Dami