NONGOVMEDIA

At the University of Ilorin College of Medicine, love was both everywhere and nowhere. Administrators discouraged it, parents warned against it, and the official message was clear: you are here to study, not to fall in love. But behind dorm room doors and stolen moments on campus, relationships blossomed.

This series documents that quiet rebellion — young people, 18 to 20 years old, negotiating first love while carrying the heavy weight of medical school expectations. For many, love became a way to survive the grind, to share the burden, to feel alive in a system that demanded total discipline.

For me, the project was a way to explore intimacy as a social fact rather than a taboo. To photograph it was to say: these stories exist, whether acknowledged or not. Beyond romance, the series reveals how young people navigate cohabitation, affection, and vulnerability in a space that sought to deny them that humanity.