Kijipa Studio's Spring/Summer 2022 Collection 'Ajala Travel' Explores the 'Fantasy on Transnationalism'

African fashion house, Kijipa Studio has recently released its new collection Ajala Travel which explores the ‘Fantasy on transnationalism’.

This collection was inspired by the adventures of Moshood Adisa Olabisi Ajala, a Nigerian icon, popularly known as ‘Ajala Travel’ who went on an expedition to explore America during a dangerous and trying time in US civil rights history – the Jim Crow era.

The brand which describes itself as a ‘pan-Africanist brand illuminating light in our Nigerian old forgotten heroes‘ speaks of the inspiration behind the collection thus:

“The news of a ‘black’ man travelling through American cities teaching and enlightening the American public about African cultural history, principles, ideas and the possibilities of a flourishing motherland went as far as to earn him a major role in a box office 20th-century fox adventure movie White Witch Doctor in 1952.

We celebrate his remarkable career – as a death-defying journalist, self-styled critic, radical propagandist and quintessential explorer”.

It is a fantasy on transnationalism based on a true-life story, our story.
I come from a place where Mungo Park’s name is known and still celebrated by many for discovering the Niger River, a joke that isn’t funny anymore.
Dimeji Ilori, Kijipa Studio

The brand’s designer, Dimeji Ilori goes on to say, “Our kids are still been taught about these lies in our schools today and our very own globetrotting explorer has nothing to his name.

The heart of his travelling concerns is grounded both in the welfare of Africans abroad and the socio-political realities back in Africa. To some extent, the cultural memory of his world tour lives on to this day – especially in Nigeria, where the term ‘Ajala Travel’ is still used to refer to a kind of carefree global tourism associated with the upwardly mobile.

For us at Kijipa Studios, it is a coming-of age-story and a wonderful life achievement – one that needs to be embraced, celebrated and studied”.

Ajala’s story gives hope that the abilities and achievements of a black man are limitless in a compelling way that will get people to start asking questions about African history.
Dimeji Ilori, Kijipa Studio