Akintunde Akinleye

Akintunde Akinleye (born 19 April 1971) is a Nigerian photojournalist whose images centre around photo-activism and trial narrative subjects. A former Reuters photographer covering West Africa, his photography has documented Nigeria's postcolonial history. He is the first Nigerian photographer to receive the World Press Photo prize, for his image of a pipeline explosion in Lagos. The same year, he received the National Geographic All Roads award. His photographs have been published in Time, Vogue, The New York Times, and other publications.

Early life Although his parents—Joel Oloruntoba and Ebuoluwa Racheal—were from Okemesi-Ekiti in southwest Nigeria, Akintunde was born and raised in Mushin, Lagos.

Upon completing a workshop on documentary photography and photojournalism, organised by the World Press Photo Foundation at the Nigeria Institute of Journalism in Lagos in 2005, Akintunde was appointed a guest lecturer in the proficiency certificate in photojournalism, in the quest to elevate the standard of practice of the profession in Nigeria.

A 2015 New York Times article noted that his work brings "kinetic landscapes to life". He had pulled through the Lagos traffic on a bike and arrived at the scene of the explosion just ten minutes after it started. He recounted that while surrounded by the billowing smoke, he saw a man who had tried dousing the fire with his bucket of water using the last drop to wash his face. He took about five or six images of the man and moved to another scene. The prize-winning photograph was said to be the last of the sequence of images he took.

Personal life Akinleye is married to Omobolanle Dada-Akinleye ("Omo-B"). They have four children; Akinbusayo, Akinola, Ibukunoluwa, and Eniola.

Awards, nominations and residencies World Press Photo prize (2007) National Geographic All Roads award (2008) Wole Soyinka and the Rest of Us, Brunei Gallery, SOAS, United Kingdom, 2012. Delta: A Vanishing Wetland (For a Sustainable World), Bamako, Mali, 2011. Troubles of a Blessed Country, California and Washington, D.C., 2007.

Publications Janson, Marloes and Akinleye, Akintunde (2015). "The Spiritual Highway: Religious World Making in Megacity Lagos", In Material Religion, 11, (4), 2015, pp. 550–56 https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2015.1103484 Akinleye, Akintunde (2013). "Paradox". In Rogue Urbanism: Emergent African Cities (ed.) Edgar Pieterse and AbdouMaliq Simone. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, pp. 355–364, 2013. Oyebode, Aisha and Akinleye, Akintunde (2021). The Stolen Daughters of Chibok. Power-House Books, New York.

Papers and posters presentations

"Beyond the Frame: Photojournalism in the Context of Africa, Centre for African Studies", University of Florida, Gainesville, U.S.A, February 2020. "Anthropocene Lives in Deviance: Delta Bush Refineries and Other Stories". Paper presented at the annual conference of the Anthropology Graduate Students' Association, York University, Toronto, Canada, March 2019. "Closing the Missing Link: Climate Change Awareness Campaign and Children's Photographic Production for Museum Exhibit". Poster presentation @Canadian Museum of History, December 2019.