Meet Kemi: The Storyteller

KEMI FALODUN

Kemi is a journalist, writer, traveler, researcher, an all-round creative soul and a friend of TwentySix. What we love most about her is her curiosity and adventurous spirit. Her bold and unique sense of style also scores very cool points in our book. Her work as a journalist focuses on mental health, intergenerational complexities, social justice, the intersections between private and public memory and has been published in Al Jazeera, Catapult, The Guardian UK, Electric Literature, Africa is a Country, The Rumpus, SciDevNet, The Republic, Saraba Magazine and many more.

She was really fun to photograph and have her share bits about how she got started, her inspiration and just life in general.

Let’s start from the top—when did you first fall in love with writing and how did you come to it as a career ?

I discovered my love for words in secondary school. I read romance and mystery novels. I started writing when I was in university. I had a blog. I was studying Microbiology and knew since my first year that I wasn’t going to practice. But I wasn’t sure I could earn a living writing. It was in 2019, I think, that I fully realized that a writing life was possible. Though it still feels quite precarious.

Do you remember the first book you read? Tell us about it

I don’t remember. Maybe the Bible? There was also this little book about a boy—Etim?—who got lost in the market. I felt his fear and confusion, wandering in the crowd like that, searching for his mother. He must have felt lost in the world. And I’ve experienced that maybe twice in my life. I felt utterly lost in the world. It was scary, disorienting.

We love to encourage self expression and showing up for yourself—can you tell us how you express yourself through your style?

Looking back, my style has evolved over the years. I’ve had different phases—big hair, mild goth… I wear whatever I like, really. I like being comfortable. With myself and in my space. There’s so much to explore. I need my account balance to match my desire.

When do you feel most like yourself?

I love when it’s raining and I’m cuddled up with a book and listening to film scores. Or when I’m doing work that resonates with me. Or when I feel so full, so drunk in love with myself.

Give us a short quote from something you’ve read that resonates so with you

There’s this little poem called “Late Fragment” by Raymond Carver.

“And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.”

That poem has stayed with me for many years. I randomly say to myself, “Me too, Carver. I call myself beloved. I feel myself beloved on the earth.” Even on the days that I don’t feel like it.

How or where do you find inspiration?

Books. Twitter. Film. Water. Music. Taking long walks. Reading literary interviews. Conversations with friends. Conversations with strangers. Stuff happening in the streets. I try to capture something—albeit random—every day. It helps me to be more present in my life.

You’ve recently started exploring another creative outlet—photography. How did that come to be? Do you have other creative outlets?

I’ve always been interested in images—photography and film. But I started paying attention a few months ago.

I’ve tried my hands at a couple of things. And I have several interests. Sometimes I imagine in an alternate life, I’d be a hair artist and a painter and a writer and a psychiatrist and a mixologist and a neuroscientist.

In this life, though, I’m a storyteller. And I plan to explore it in whatever form that interests me—journalism, creative writing, photography, tech, film, advertising. My primary outlet is writing. There’s so much to learn and I’m open. Ultimately, my ambition is to live all my lives.

If you were to walk the runway for a fashion show, what music would be playing in the background?

A Ludovico Einaudi piece. Especially “Experience.” Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.” The Cinematic Orchestra’s “Arrival of Birds.” And whatever a collaboration between Asa and Sona Jobarteh sounds like.

What is your favourite TwentySix piece right now?

Smocked Maxi Dress! Tuxedo Shirt Dress too. And yes yes, Floret Dress.