LagosPhoto 2013: The Megacity and the Non-City 

Ocean View, Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos, Nigeria 

October 25 - November 16, 2013 

 

 

 

As co-curator of LagosPhoto 2013, I organized the exhibition The Megacity and the Non-City, which included over fifty artists spanning fifteen countries.

 

The Megacity and the Non-City explored how the development of urban centers in Africa and the technical advance of photography have transformed our sense of place in a globally connected world. The twenty-first century has been characterized by the rise of the megacity, with cities such as Lagos transitioning and adapting to vast changes taking place at an unprecedented speed. Urban development, population explosion, environmental changes, socio-economic gaps, and the rising middle class in metropolitan centers in Africa redefine the structure of the city as it continuously evolves. At the same time, the digital revolution transforms the spatial perimeters of an individual’s immediate environment, tied to the virtual connectivity between places through expanded technologies. This concept of the “non-city” is defined by displacement, fantasy, and an unstable sense of identity, where individuals reference multifarious cross-sections of cultures. The artists presented in The Megacity and the Non-City adopt photographic practices and image-based strategies to negotiate the expanding urban landscape of Africa today, with its contradictions, grey areas, and sites of dispute. By situating photography at the core of their practice, these artists investigate the circulation of images in our society, their mass consumption and capacity to document personal and collective world-views.

 

Participating Artists: 

Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (Benin), Kelechi Amadi-Obi (Nigeria), Jelili Atiku (Nigeria), Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin (South Africa/UK), Kudzanai Chiurai (Zimbabwe), Marc C. (USA), Jerome Delay (France), Samuel Fosso (Cameroon), Glenna Gordon (USA), Jane Hahn (USA), Jan Hoek (The Netherlands), Ayana V. Jackson (USA), Samuel James (USA), Cyrus Kabiru (Kenya), Namsa Leuba (Belgium), Nicola Lo Calzo (Italy), Obinna Makata (Nigeria), Christina de Middel (Spain), Anthony Monday (Nigeria), Hauwa Mukan (Nigeria), Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria), Obi Nwokedi (Nigeria/UK), Lakin Ogunbanwo (Nigeria), Karl Ohiri and Sayad Hassan (UK), Uche Okpa-Iroha (Nigeria), Adeola Olagunju (Nigeria), George Osodi (Nigeria), Joe Penney (USA), Ahmet Polat and Erik Vroons (Turkey/The Netherlands), Lindsay Sawyer (UK), Mouhamadou Sow (Senegal), Andrea Stultiens (The Netherlands), Afose Sulayman (Nigeria), thanksthanksafrica (Nigeria/Canada), Charles Placide-Tossou (Benin), Patrick Willocq (France), Hans Wilschut (The Netherlands)

 

The festival extended to exhibition venues in arts and cultural centers and outdoor spaces throughout the city, including Omenka Gallery, African Artists' Foundation, A White Space, Federal Printing Press, Lagos City Hall, Falamo Roundabout, and Muri Okunola Park.

 

Special projects in the festival included partnerships with World Press Photo, POPCAP' 13, FOTObook, Photographers Portfolio Meeting/Goethe Institute South Africa, TNI.ACP Workshop, Master Class Exhibition with Akinbode Akinbiyi, LagosPhoto Summer School, and Future Cities Laboratory. LagosPhoto 2013 included an extensive public programming initiative with workshops, artist talks, panel discussions, screenings, and related events. LagosPhoto welcomed Martin Parr as a special guest of honor, and was proud to showcase the world premiere of Samuel Fosso's latest series, The Emperor of Africa. 

 

Launched in 2010, LagosPhoto is the first and only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria. In a month long program, events include exhibitions, workshops, artist presentations, discussions, and large scale outdoor prints displayed throughout the city with the aim of reclaiming public spaces and engaging the general public with multifaceted stories of Africa. LagosPhoto aims to establish a community for contemporary photography which will unite artists through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities from across all of Africa. LagosPhoto presents photography as it is embodied in the exploration of historical and contemporary issues, the sharing of cultural practices, and the promotion of social programs. 

 

LagosPhoto 2013 was organized by the LagosPhoto Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria. LagosPhoto is sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria and the Eko Hotel & Suites, with partners World Press Photo and UBS. Supporters include the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Universal Furniture, Art Twenty One, Echo Art, Lufthansa, Arts Collaboratory, Mondriaan Fund, the Prince Claus Fund, Ford Foundation, LIRS, Multichoice Nigeria, Porsche, Samsung,  and LASAA. Media partners include Vanguard, Beat 99.9 FM, and Mania Magazine. 

 

For more information, please visit the LagosPhoto website: www.lagosphotofestival.com. 

 

 

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