The first and only
international arts festival of photography in Nigeria, LagosPhoto, is currently
showcasing its sixth edition of exhibition, workshop, screening, artists’
presentation and discussion in Lagos.
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| Cape Mongo by Francois Knoetze and Anton Scholtze |
Titled “Designing
Futures“, the aim of the exhibition, according to its organizers, is
to unveil photographs that explore the historical and contemporary issues, the
promotion of social programmes and the reclaiming of public spaces.
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| ‘Nigerian Identity’ by Ima Mfon |
They explain
further: “ ‘Designing Futures’, this year’s theme and conversation of interest
is intended to explore contemporary design in Africa. In a continent whose
design history includes the Benin Bronzes, Adinkria and some of the oldest
writing systems known to man, deference to these feats are acknowledged in the
rich and sometimes frugally chic designs we see today.
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| Remixing Hollywood by Omar Victor and Antoine Tempe |
“Photographers
from across the continent and beyond display deft but also awareness through
the images and socio-political landscape that influenced daily life, and in
turn communicate that awareness through images they create. Looking at both the
literal definition of design and a more philosophical one, curator Cristina De
Middle states: “Making a plan is designing your future, crossing your fingers,
praying ... a pony tail, choreography, the shape of countries like Mali.”
“By questioning
our concept of creative design and day to day design and blurring the line
between the two, the exhibition presents photography that forces the viewer to
reconsider and even reconcile what design is, has become, and will be in the
future.”
It features 35
participating photographers from 18 countries and they among others include:
Ima Mfon (Nigeria), William Ukoh (Nigeria), Patrick Willocq (France), Alice
Smeets (Belgium), James Ostrer (UK), Gloria Oyarzabal (Spain), Thabiso Sekgala
(South Africa), and Navin Kala (India).
Others are: Joana
Choumali (Ivory Coast), Kadara Enyeasi (Nigeria), Robin Hammond (New Zealand).
Omar Victor Diop and Antoine Tempe (Senegal and France/USA) have (Re-mixing
Hollywood), Vicente Paredes (Spain) displays ‘Pony Congo’ (print and oil) 2015.
It explores inequality, the origin of all conflicts and its existence since
dawn.
Francois Knoetze
and Scholtze (South Africa) present ‘Trashmen (2013-2015) Print on blueblack
paper, and video. ‘Cape Mongo’ follows the stories of five characters as they
journey from city’s discarded waste – mythical ‘trash creatures’ which have
emerged from the growing dumps of consumable culture. Owise Abuzaid speaks on
‘The Yellow T-shirt’ (Print on photo-paper 2014) and said: “I never leave my
house without it, which I consider to be a second self. I’ve been using it to
reflect my presence and document significant events like when I had a car
accident and when I got to a place that I can buy a half car to pimp on my
uncle’s funeral and on my fishing trip and also at my cousin’s wedding as well
as my daily routine through photography for seven months now.”
Nigerian born
artist, Ima Mfon, called his project ‘Nigerian Identity’. His works are mostly
black and white pictures so he explained why he chose white by saying that: “I
chose white because I wanted to eliminate any distraction by having a white
background.” Why is the picture so back? He was asked. He said he had
accentuated the society and decided to use the pictures to celebrate black
people, which he said he considered beautiful, and to also draw attention to
topic on race and skin coulour. “Even though black people are beautiful,
intelligent and unique, a lot of times, we are marginalized and oppressed
because of the colour of our skin. Maybe not so in Nigeria but, where I was
based in America, it was so.”
LagosPhoto festival
opened to the public on October 24, 2015 at the Eko Hotel & Suites,
Victoria Island, Lagos. Satellite exhibition venues in arts and cultural spaces
throughout the city extend to Omenka Gallery, Africans Artists’ Foundation,
Stranger Lagos, Goethe-Institut, Nimbus Gallery, Alara Concept Store, A White
Space Gallery, Yaba College of Technology and Quintessence. Outdoor in public
spaces in Lagos include Muri Okunola Park, Falomo Roundabout (Ikoyi), Awojobi
Park (Onike) and Freedom Park. The festival will end on November 27, 2015.
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| Pony Congo by Vicante Paredos |
Special project
and satellite exhibitions in conjunction with LagosPhoto include: LagosPhoto
Summer School, Etisalat Photography Competition: I Love Nigeria, World Press
Photo 2015, POPCAP ’15, Nigerian Music album covers and photography and
LagosPhoto Arward.
Below are some of
the photographs being exhibited at this year’s Festival:
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