By: Muhammed Lamin Drammeh
When IG was going to elementary school, her dream was to become a fearless lawyer who would revolt against inequality and injustices; to balance the oft-unbalance scale of justice in the most honourable way. All she wanted as a young girl, was to make a difference in the justice system.
But, while some might credit fate, what is clear is that it was IG’s incandescent creative talent that veered her off the law route; smoothly landing her in the creative world of words and colours with a sprinkle of photography. She would go on to break through the glass ceiling and smash the traditional gender stereotypes in The Gambia by making waves in the country’s creative industry as a poet, painter and photographer who is set to do her maiden solo photo exhibition in The Gambia.
“I wanted to be a lawyer. Growing up, I saw and witnessed a lot of injustices. I wanted to be a reason to make a difference in the life of many as a lawyer. However, I am in a different area now,” she explained.
Christened as Aji Ndumbeh Jobe but goes by her sobriquet, IG (Aji) Jobe. Aji is in her early twenties demonstrating a variety of skills in the art that is changing narratives. A trained teacher, prolific poet, and award-winning painter, IG is now making waves in photo-ing.
IG’s passion for art was stimulated in her formative years and partly through her brilliance in Literature in English and Arts and Crafts as a student. While going to elementary school, IG would write quotations from influential people and engage in debates. This laid the foundation of her drive to venture into poetry. Having a very arduous childhood, she began putting thoughts on paper, a process that birthed her storytelling adventure.
“I started this journey by writing quotes. I have a very tough childhood, so I would draft out something when I get hurt by someone or something or when I am happy about something. So that’s how it started and later own discovered that I can do poetry,” she narrated.
IG has written close to seventy poems, including spoken-word poems. When she was leaving senior school, she left as the ‘best’ Literature-in-English student, honouring her brilliance in poetry. On the 2020 International Youth Day, Aji was awarded Youth of the Year by the Young Writers Association of The Gambia.
“After senior school, one thing that lingers in my mind was what do I need to do to prove that I deserved to be the best literature student in my school. So, I pushed forward in competing nationally and internationally,” she recounted while explaining her poetry journey.
Being a very brilliant Arts and Crafts student in her elementary school, she was advised to major in Arts and Crafts at The Gambia College in 2017, when she got enrolled as a student at the teacher’s training school.
IG’s devotion to arts started long ago as a child. She would sketch and draw with pencils even at that tender age; foretelling, somewhat, her innate creative potential.
“For me, I think, the art in me is natural. I have been an artist ever since. I have been doing drawings and depicting things since childhood. I grew up doing all these; tell stories through painting and decorating,” she explained.
The young painter has won awards both nationally and internationally through her magnificent creativity in portraying stories through painting. In 2019, IG’s creativity was honoured in Eqypt in the Creative African Oscar awards. She was also the winner of the 75 painting contests on the Gambia We Want in 2045 held in The Gambia in the same year.
In 2021, IG would go on to win the best female storyteller in an award ceremony in Sudan.
Last year, she became the 2nd runner-up in the Black History Exhibition in Ethiopia.
This creative genius, with her precocious talent, would not limit her creativity to poetry and painting but has now gone on to add another letter P to her PP talents: Poetry, painting and photography.
With the nature of evolution and the emergence of pictorial storytelling, IG believes that she can tell stories through photography as well.
“So many people try to discourage me when I started photographing. What they will say is that it is a male-dominated area, but my passion is what is driving me,” she passionately said, with a glint of hope in her eyes.
Still teaching and painting, IG now has her studio and is so immersed in photography. She owns a camera and tells stories through pictures.
She is set to do a massive photo exhibition in the country in November this year, where she intends to capture pictures of iconic voices in Africa.
