As a media partner for ART X Lagos 2019, Nataal reveals one of the Curated Projects at the fair that puts the host city into focus
Nataal is proud to partner with ART X Lagos 2019, the fourth year of West Africa’s foremost international art fair. This edition, from 1 to 3 November, sees a move to The Federal Palace, allowing it grow in both size and ambition. Now hosting 22 galleries from across Africa and the diaspora, a new ART X Modern section will compliment its on-going celebration of contemporary artists, as well as the addition of a Performance Pavilion. Its well established Interactive Projects, talks programme, ART X Prize initiative and night of music with ART X Live! all return too, as does the Curated Projects.
This year the Curated Projects comprises four experimental, multidisciplinary presentations directed by artist Tayo Ogunbiyi, one of which puts the host city in sharp focus. This Is Lagos – a response to Falz’s song ‘This is Nigeria’ (itself a turn on Childish Gambino’s ‘This is America’) - features three emerging Nigerian photographers whose work looks at the physical condition of Lagos. Amanda Iheme, Nyancho Nwanri and Ifebusola Shotunde each start their own conversation around infrastructure, architecture and what the future holds for the city’s inhabitants.
“This is Lagos seeks to draw attention to often unnoticed textures that compose the built environment in Lagos and highlights environmental challenges that put the city at risk,” Ogunbiyi explains. “To do so, each photograph will be animated through Augmented Reality (AR), alluding to how rising water levels, pollution and increased temperatures can impact today’s metropolis. The photographers’ works are documenting the city of Lagos in candid and unique ways and are becoming compelling records of their lives as well as a collective portrait of Lagos.”
Here Nataal meets the participating artists:
Ifebusola Shotunde
Ifebusola Shotunde is a photographer whose work delves into spirituality and social concerns.
What was your path into photography?
I always loved photographs for the stories they told and for how they preserved memories. I was in Yabatech studying Business when I stumbled upon Kadara Enyeasi's work and was stunned by how he had documented his friends in university. After meeting him, I learnt a lot and have continued to progress to date.
What fuels your practice?
It’s the knowledge of how transient life can be and the fear that these moments will never be re-lived - not for a minute or a second.
Describe the work you'll be showing at ART X Lagos.
The work documents my neighbourhood as an attempt to get us talking about whose responsibility it is to care for the environment we live in. I think it's time we asked ourselves if we live like this as a result of the incompetence of our leaders or if we are all just ignorant of how un-kept it is? I hope it will kick start the necessary dialogues about paying better attention and caring better for where we live.
Finish this sentence: “Lagos is...
… us. Let's care for us."
Nyancho NwaNri
This talent studied Digital Animation in the UK while teaching herself photography. Her press work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Aljazeera and Reuters. She’s also a trainer with the Canon Miraisha Programme, travelling across Africa to conduct workshops.
What was your path into photography?
From childhood, I would always play around with my dad’s old camera, which was faulty, by the way. Then in my secondary school days a family friend bought me some disposable cameras and I would go around photographing my friends, classmates and other people. I'd then take the film roll to the shop to be developed, or washed as we say Nigeria, and marvel at the images. At university I purchased a point-and-shoot camera, and in 2013, I bought my DSLR camera, which put me on the path to being a professional photographer.
What fuels your practice today?
My life. As an artist you can’t separate your life from your work. Your life is your work.
Describe the work you’ll be showing at ART X Lagos?
I’ll be showing images from an on-going project documenting the direct effects of urbanisation and climate change on the daily lives of Lagosians. It also shows the resilience and adaptability of Lagosians who keep the flame of life burning within and around them despite all the obstacles in their paths.
Finish this sentence: “Lagos is...
… soulfully effervescent.”
Amanda Iheme
For Amanda Iheme, working in architectural photography is her way to speak to her culture. She’s participated in Open House Lagos and LagosPhoto and is also a practicing psychotherapist.
What was your path into photography?
I love pictures. I had folders and folders of images on my laptop that I'd spend days scrolling through and enjoying. A friend got a new camera in 2012 and was excited to teach me as much as I was curious to learn. I loved it. I could make something that mattered to me matter even more by focusing my camera lens on it. Today, my fascination is evenly spread between mastering the art of photographing and narrating a story that matters to me.
Please describe the work you’ll be showing at ART X Lagos.
My work focuses on architecture. I love buildings. For ART X Lagos I’m showing images of the Government Houses in Victoria Island, which was built in the 1960s and 1970s, and The Kingsway Tower located in Ikoyi, which is newly built. It is worth paying attention to the difference in style of building, use of space and greenery. I find most times that the architecture of the past felt closer to the people and their meaning than the architecture of today, which tends to cater to inspiring a feeling of wonder and awe rather than inclusion, comfort, warmth and community.
What do you hope this work will express to visitors about the city and its people?
What I want anyone to take away from the work are the thoughts of change, how we handle it as individuals and a community and how our decisions on how to handle change influences the direction of our growth. Hopefully, from this external experience they can look inward and ask themselves about how they are handling change in their own lives. Is it taking them away from their truth, their purpose? Are they making a mess of their inner selves to survive in the outside world?
Finish this sentence: “Lagos is…
… toxic and progressive.”
This is Lagos, sponsored by The SAGE Innovation Centre, is on view at ART X Lagos 2019. The fair runs from 1-3 November at Federal Palace, Victoria Island, Lagos. Buy tickets here.
Visit ART X Lagos
Published on 18/10/2019