The Story of Emotan

EMOTAN MAGAZINE, Maiden Issue, August/September 1977.

PICTURE Credit: Tola Adenle, Benin City, Nigeria, March 1977
Camera: Canon AE1

My nephew, Bolanle Adamolekun of the University of Ibadan Medical School, Ibadan, Nigeria, had traveled with me to Benin, and my husband (Dr. Depo Adenle) who would later photograph many of Emotan’s covers as well as pictures of shows like the Black Beauty Expo in Washington, D.C. (Sammy Davis, Jr’s wife, Altovise was there) and Revlon’s Introduction to Nigerian Market (through Prince Albert Awofisayo’s Continental Pharmaceuticals) etcetera, had persuaded me to take along his prized Canon AE1 because a field trip clashed with the Benin trip. While he’s been a photography buff forever, I was an Instamatic Camera lady! I must mention that while Albert managed the business aspect of CP, Felix, his brother who was a Pharmacist, managed the production side.

Bolanle not only drove our Toyota Crown on that tortuous journey but we took turns taking pictures of each other beside the famed statue, pictures that I still keep, and one of these days, I may be bold enough to show the picture Bolanle took of me.

Meanwhile, I present the story of the woman that has become almost mythical but who was real flesh and blood. Stop by her statue when you visit Benin as suggested in her story above.

Bolanle, a 2004 Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University, is now an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

TOLA ADENLE, Washington, D.C. Metro Area
July 7, 2011

 




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