Beyond Decorum: The Photography of Ike Ude
by: Bessire, Mark H. C. and Lauri Firstenberg

Softcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 184 pages, illustrated in color, essays and an interview with the photographer. From his provocative Cover Girl series featuring photographic portraits of himself on the covers of popular magazines, to his writings on sexuality and identity, the work of Nigerian-born Ike Ude explores a world of dualities: African/postnationalist, photographer/performance artist, artist/spectator, male/female, mainstream/marginal, seduction/narcissism, and fashion/art. As an artist from Nigeria working in New York City, connected to the world of fashion and celebrity, Ude gives the political aspects of performance and representation a new vitality, melding his own theatrical selves and multiple personae with his art.