Emeke Obanor

SHADES OF GRAY

"Shades of Gray" is an ongoing  project, documenting the consequences of family disruption, when Nigerian breadwinners leave behind loved ones to embark on irregular migration to Europe and American continent.  According to UNICEF-UNDP, children left behind by one or both parents or relations to migrate by road, Mediterranean sea or tourist visas to western countries, are at risk of suffering the consequences of family disruption,  drug abuse, psycho-social problems, violent behavior, show signs of depression, anxiety, aggression,  conduct problems,  receiving insufficient care and control, falling in the hands of incompetent caregivers and family members, even the possibility of been institutionalized.

 According to statistics from the UnitedNations in 2018, over 602,000 Nigerians attempted the journey to seek for greener pasture  through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, twenty-seven thousand of these Nigerians lost  their lives leaving behind their children and loved ones.  Many were women and girls, trafficked to different parts of the world, some entered America and Europe with tourist visas, and became undocumented immigrants, with hope that they will someday, reunite with their families, in this time the chances of family reunion is slim, after the announcement of a Trump and other western country administration policy that is expected to all but shut down family-based immigration / reunion from Nigeria.

These children in Nigeria, grow up experiencing prolonged separation from their relations with a glimpse of hope that they will one day reunite.