The Ethereal In Us — a photo exhibition by Olatoke Olufade — captures the essence of femininity

Ozolua Uhakheme

Still photographs capture the essence and beauty of the moment, devoid of the noise and distraction of motion. The silent essence does not exist as the absence of sound, but as a soft quiet that demands nothing of you. Olatoke Olufade’s The Ethereal in Us, her new photography collection, lives in that space.

Glancing at the photos and feeling the energy it radiates, this collection does not aim to entertain. Instead, it offers clarity. A sense of return to self and femininity. A reminder that beauty, in its truest form, exists comfortably, removing focus from what it is not.

With this exhibition, she uses her lens to bring stories bubbling within her inner world to life. What we get is a distilled exploration of femininity beyond societal burdens of performance.

Despite the minimalist nature of the photos, its depth comes from the subject’s details. What Olufade has captured here is less about appearance and more about presence. In this stillness — which is not born from a hesitation — the essence of the subject unfolds. One begins to become cognizant of how the subject’s facial structure dovetails with the adornments, presenting femininity at its most ethereal.

The featured portraits give off a timeless appeal, representing the evergreen nature of the feminine. A bare backdrop gives space for the subject’s face — framed by natural hair in a puff and an adornment of a constellation of pearls across her cheek — to shine. There’s something ceremonial in the way the pearls curve around the subject’s eyes, depicting something similar to a rite of passage. They mark something deeper. Something unseen. Closer interaction with the photos from this exhibition seems to reflect pieces of the beholder. Such is the power of Olatoke’s photos.

This is where the sacred pause comes in. These images subtly demand that you resist the urge to scroll. They call you to sit with them, and in turn, let them sit with you. The subject’s gaze plays a huge role in this feeling. It doesn’t flinch. Whether looking dead-on or caught in profile, she owns the space she holds. There’s strength in the simplicity of her poses and styling, enabling the subject to come off as grounded and reflecting this to the beholder of the photos.

Olufade’s genius lies in her technical precision. Her use of light is deliberate. Soft, warm, but never overly polished. The skin texture remains intact. These photographs are styled with precision, yet feel entirely unforced. The humanity of the subject is preserved in this manner. The feminine identity in these portraits goes beyond the notion of feeling soft. It’s also about personal autonomy. The women in the collection are not presented for consumption, nor praise. They are simply being. And that, in today’s ultra-curated world, is radical.

The Ethereal in Us is about femininity, but not the watered-down, hyper-curated version of it. This is femininity as essence, as root system. The Ethereal in Us also nods to the natural expression of the human being. The composition of each shot feels organic, as the curved pearls reflect corals of the sea or spread seeds of the land. Olufade presents the ethereal nature of human femininity as a direct parallel for the femininity of the universe, reflecting the life-giving essence women and earth share.

This is the deeper story Olufade is telling; that the ethereal isn’t a far-fetched, unreachable ideal floating millions of miles away. It’s here, in the curve of a cheekbone. It’s in the texture of hair left in its true form. In an era where so much visual content clamors for attention, Olufade’s work reminds us that presence needs no noise.

The Ethereal in Us proves that our true essence will be seen and felt without begging for the attention. It knows what it is. And in doing so, it invites us to remember who we are.