Adesuwa Aighewi Captures The Beauty Of Muslim Women In Spring In Harlem

Adesuwa Aighewi is not a melting pot of ethnicities or careers, rather she is a salad. Each piece of her retaining its unique taste to create the deliciousness of her mind and values. The bi-racial model/director/former STEM/fierce woman, is the daughter of Chinese-Thai mother and a Nigerian father who was raised between Nigeria and the US. Her grand plan was never to be a model or be a model forever, she was discovered while studying Chemistry in Maryland but soon after moved to LA. 

But her grand plan she laid out in a Forbes 2016 interview is to “want to do documentaries that change the way people view Africa" when her career reaches a certain height. Height it sure did grow: she opened for Chanel, walked Gucci, Coach became the New York Times Fashion Instagram face as well as write an op-ed in The Guardian about the fashion politics of Black Hair. 

Collaborating with Joshua Woods, Harlem-based fashion photographer, this is phase one of Aighewi's master plan. Spring in Harlem follows Bintou Kaba, Fanta Conte, Sira kante, Cire Kaba, and Fatim Camara; on a spring market run talking about their relationship with Islam as hijabi women. The documentary in collaboration with Love Magazine is created for open dialogue that Muslim Hijabi women are not scary, rather beautiful. Aighewi's work is one of acceptance.

"The idea was to do a video that showed beauty in Muslim women. Just because you’re wearing a hijab doesn’t mean you’re scary. It is not about race. It’s not about religion. It’s not about clothes. It’s about beauty” says Aighewi.

Phase two in the grand plan is a children's book 'Akgube' in honor of her late brother Eswei. A book dedicated to teach children the art and unity of Africa.

Up next, art does politics and social commentary in Banksy's Paris Murals.