THE HYENA MEN OF NIGERIA

This series explores the lives of Nigerian men who keep tamed baboons and hyenas as pets. This unexpected series began in 2003 when photographer Pieter Hugo received images of Nigeria's Gadawan Kura, or hyena handlers, taken by a friend using a mobile phone from a car window in Lagos. The images depicted young men casually walking with hyenas on chains.

Through a friend who works as a journalist, Hugo was able to connect with a Nigerian reporter named Adetokunbo Abiola, who assisted him in finding the Gadawan Kura. Initially, Hugo tried to meet them in Benin City, but they had already moved to Abuja.
Eventually, he tracked them down in a rundown area on the outskirts of Abuja, where he discovered that they were not the feared criminals that people often thought they were. Instead, they were a close knit group of entertainers who traveled with their hyenas and sold herbal medicines, a tradition that has been passed down in their families for many years.

Hugo spent a week with the hyena men, capturing portraits instead of their performances. His focus was on the coexistence of the urban and wild, showing the complex relationships between the handlers and their animals. After two years, Hugo returned for another visit, resulting in photographs that felt more intimate due to the developed bonds with the group.