Kelechi Amadi-Obi

After many years of shooting fashion and beauty photographs for the likes of True Love magazine, a South African magazine with a huge readership in Nigeria which went ahead to have a West African edition called True Love West Africa, Amadi-Obi started his own glossy fashion magazine which he called Style Mania magazine. The magazine typically featured on its covers Nigerian artists and creative types like Tiwa Savage, P-Square, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Stephanie Okereke, TY Bello, Agbani Darego, Bassey Ikpi, Mo’ Cheddah among others, all taken by Amadi-Obi.

In late 2016, during a photoshoot for hip hop artist Jidenna on Broad Street, Lagos, Amadi-Obi discovered Bukola, who was selling pillows on the streets of Lagos. He immediately showed interest in her as a potential model and scheduled a shoot in his studio. The result were a series of stunning photographs that went viral around Nigeria, turning the former pillow seller into an overnight success in modelling.

In 2001, Amadi-Obi helped co-found Depth of Field (DOF) a collective of Nigerian photographers, artist and painters. It was an initiative of popular Nigerian photographer Uche James Iroha, ace photographer TY Bello, Amaize Ojeikere, Emeka Okereke, Kelechi Amad-Obi and Zainab Balogun, which took off after the six artists met in Bamako, Mali, during an art exhibition named Memories Intimes D’un Nouveau Milleanaire Ives Recontres de la Photo (Bamako, 2001). The group was formed with the goal of attaining photography excellence by gathering regularly to encourage each other and critic each other's work.

He obtained his law degree in 1992 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1994. While on campus, he floated a small company which he named De-Zulu. Later, he grew more interested in the art of photography and eventually, after long years of practice, became a founding member of the Nigerian photography collective Depth of Field, which had as one of its members, TY Bello who would also go on to be a successful photographer and musician.

Kelechi Amadi-Obi, born December 29, 1969, is a Nigerian creative photographer, painter, artist and the publisher of Mania Magazine. His work in photography and visual art has earned him international renown featuring in many international exhibitions including Snap Judgment: New Position in contemporary African Photography, International center of photography New York (2006) He has been described as one of Nigeria's groundbreaking celebrity photographers who has "helped put Nigerian photography on the world map.". Vogue calls him "a major force in the creative scene in Nigeria."