In episode five of our Art.See.Africa series, we make a stop in Lagos, the cultural center of Nigeria – one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Curator and artist Jumoke Sanwo shows us her f
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome to Lagos, the economic capital of my country, Nigeria.
00:07Lagos is a coastal city situated on the shores of West Africa.
00:19I am Jumoke Sowo and I'm a visual storyteller and cultural producer.
00:23Let me show you my city.
00:30Lagos has a population of roughly 15 million people, which makes it the biggest city in Africa.
00:45Nigeria broke free from British colonial rule when we gained independence in 1960.
00:53And today, Lagos is a vast city that sprawls across four interconnected islands.
01:04From the humble floating fishing community of Makoko,
01:10to the city's upmarket suburbs that are home to 6,000 millionaires in U.S. dollar terms.
01:16And after dark, we know how to have a good time.
01:39Over the years, I've documented my city through art and cultural productions.
01:45Today, I'm very excited to present a diverse group of artists doing amazing work in the city of Lagos.
01:52Coming up in this episode of DW's Artsy Africa,
01:56we meet Taye Idao, who explores hair and identity through her complex multimedia works.
02:03We spend time with Kainibi Osahayen, whose rich paintings are created across textured metal surfaces.
02:11Victor Eikameno shows us his iconographic works, inspired by his upbringing in Edo State.
02:19We meet the photographer Ayobamio Gumbe, who creates woven photographs.
02:25Abisola Omolade takes us into the fascinating world of Nollywood.
02:31And performance artist Jalili Atiku presents his challenging new work.
02:36So let's hit the streets of Lagos.
02:40Let's go.
02:54Our first stop is the walking class area of Leki Peninsula.
03:04For us Nigerian women, our hair is very complex.
03:08It is political, it is cultural, it also has historical element.
03:14Taye Idao is an artist who embraces all of us in our work.
03:23Hey Taye.
03:24Hi.
03:27Well, this looks amazing.
03:29I'm just getting ready to start on the collage.
03:38Taye's visual language consists of depicting strands of human hair interwoven with coral beads.
03:55Why did you decide to approach your work from this perspective?
04:00It was really because of my own hair.
04:02This was my first solo exhibition, Evolution.
04:06It was about kind of seeking out my paternal grandmother, but using hair as a starting point.
04:14Because she's unknown to my family, and then I'm left with this coily long hair that is unique to me.
04:22Taye's hair is different from many other Nigerian women.
04:27As a child, Taye was often told that she must have inherited her hair from her grandmother.
04:36Although Taye has pictures of other family members, she knows nothing about her father's mother.
04:44It was about kind of seeking out my paternal grandmother.
04:49You know, who was she, where was she from?
04:52And obviously because of my hair, it was clear that she wasn't from the African continent, you know.
04:58So my hair became the starting point for that journey of, you know, finding this woman.
05:03So it was kind of remnant that's left of this woman that's unknown to our family.
05:10Taye grew up in Benin City, in Edo State, and she was influenced by a local culture.
05:17The late queen mother was revered, and so was her son, the Oba, who is the king.
05:25Taye draws upon the traditional coral beads of Benin culture,
05:29and combines this with human hair to create this intricate artwork.
05:38The beads are still very relevant to today.
05:41So the images that I use, for example, are of Benin brides,
05:45because they kind of copy, you know, this adornment that's worn by the king.
05:52Let me show you the process of how I do the layering for the collage.
05:56Cool.
05:57I'll show you my collage drawer, where all my collage stuff are.
06:03So this is some beads that I cut out.
06:06Then, you see the hair?
06:08So these are some of the images. I'm going to cut them out.
06:11Do you want to cut something?
06:13I would love to do that. I want to try my hand in this.
06:16I think women have always been in that light,
06:20where we're constantly doing stuff in the back,
06:23which is why, for me, it's very important to tell women's stories,
06:27because there is a lot that women are doing,
06:30and they make a lot of contribution to society.
06:36Usually, the image that we get of women are always in the sense of models,
06:42or beauty, but, you know, nobody's really talking about the important stuff.
06:47We don't necessarily have to be in the forefront,
06:51but I think it's important that people are at least aware
06:54of what we're doing behind, you get?
06:57Absolutely.
06:58Yeah.
06:59So this is, in a way, an acknowledgement of women's role,
07:03and also importance as well.
07:05Yeah, and power.
07:06And power.
07:07Yeah.
07:08My time with Taiye has me reflecting on how our works might be feminine and layered,
07:13but they carry their own quiet power of women's stories
07:17in what is often a male-dominated society.
07:20Bye.
07:21Bye.
07:25From Taiye's place, we travel east across the famous Lekki Bridge,
07:29and we head for the oldest suburb of Ikouii.
07:32This is where we find the angels and muse-thought laboratories
07:36It is an art incubator space, and it was founded by the artist Victor Ikameno.
07:45Like Taiye Idao, Victor is also using beads to create his artworks.
08:06He is reinterpreting and destructing symbols from his childhood.
08:36Does it have a different meaning when you use it for something else?
08:39You understand?
08:40So those are the two things that I'm kind of like working with
08:43when I started using rosary pieces.
08:45And when you look at them, what I'm signaling is the kingdom, is the king,
08:49is the way he would normally dress.
08:59So one thing that you're going to realize in a lot of my work is that
09:02the presence of iconography, because it's what ties all the works together.
09:07That is the common thread that you're going to see in all the works.
09:15You can see it here, in this one here, then, you know,
09:18see it in the hair, even in the lines.
09:20Because growing up, these were things that were on the walls of the village.
09:24Then over the years, created my own visual language with that.
09:29Biktor has drawn on the rich legacy of traditional Nigerian iconography
09:34to create his own contemporary interpretations of these patterns.
09:43Biktor is also an avid collector of Benin bronzes.
09:47The Benin bronzes are a group of several thousand metal plaques
09:51and sculptures that are used to decorate the royal palace
09:55in the Kingdom of Benin, in what is today known as Edo State in Nigeria.
10:03In 1897, British troops removed them from Benin,
10:07and today, the largest collections are to be found in Benin.
10:12The restituted Benin bronzes were returned to the Oba,
10:15the King of Benin, by decree in 2023,
10:19where they will be displayed as not yet been decided.
10:22And I think that we as humans, and the Benin Kingdom
10:26as a living tradition, a living tradition,
10:29as a living tradition, as a living tradition,
10:32as a living tradition, as a living tradition,
10:35as a living tradition, as a living tradition,
10:38the Benin Kingdom as a living tradition, a living culture,
10:41will continue to reinvent itself at every given time in history.
10:47One of Africa's biggest cultural projects is a museum of West African art,
10:52MOWA, currently under construction in Benin City.
10:57With 70 percent of Nigerians under 30,
11:00this museum will be a cultural centre
11:03with a focus on contemporary art to inspire the next generations.
11:13Victor exhibits internationally and he has studios in the United States of America and in Lagos.
11:19He also mentors emerging artists and the photographer Ayobami Ogunkwe is one of his protégés.
11:26I have an open studio.
11:28You work with paper so you have to be careful with it.
11:31Ayobami has recently started creating large-scale works.
11:37Man, man, man, you have been busy.
11:42I've been trying to work on more personal stories, like you advised.
11:48Ayobami's technique involves the interweaving of two photographs.
11:53This is my room.
11:54Oh, man.
11:55I've been putting myself...
11:56That's you, right? This is great. I love it. I really love it.
11:59It's almost like hide-and-seek, kind of like weaving and how you see me, you don't see me, you see me, you don't see me.
12:08A while back, I was in a school, a kindergarten, and these kids were weaving coloured papers, right?
12:15And I just looked at it and I was really fascinated with the patterns the kids were able to come up with.
12:20And I was like, oh, and then someone just told me, like, oh, what if you wove your photographs?
12:30People choose fabric as the go-to material to identify with each other.
12:35If you're very familiar with designer clothes, this is Versace, but then it's like a knock-off, right?
12:41And then we have the situation where people choose this print fabric and then they cut their outfit from it just to identify with each other.
12:51More recently, I've been, like, pouring myself more into my work.
12:55And so I went back home to my parents' house where I was raised.
13:04This is my dad and my mom. The title of this piece is Empty Nest.
13:08They had raised their children in an abandoned house.
13:11And they had no idea what it was like to live in an abandoned house.
13:15This is my dad and my mom. The title of this piece is Empty Nest.
13:20They had raised all their kids and everybody's now out of the house.
13:24So I photographed them in front of the family car and in front of the house.
13:33In this piece, you could see them, they're keeping their hands to themselves, but they're still standing beside each other.
13:38So at the essence of their relationship, that is really who they are.
13:46When there is an avenue for them to come together and have a conversation and be friends, they also do not turn it down.
13:53So that is what this piece is all about.
14:06We leave Ayobami and journey to the suburb of Maryland to meet one of Nigeria's foremost contemporary artists.
14:16Kainibi Osai is an artist that I've worked with in the past and I find his work rather intriguing.
14:22Hi, Kainibi.
14:23Hello, Jumoke.
14:24How are you?
14:25Good to see you.
14:26I know you've been very busy.
14:29Oh, wow.
14:32I see a lot of figures, you know. What does the human body mean to you?
14:37In my work, I have synchronized figuration and abstraction together.
14:43So the body, for me, is where all the human force lays so that you can, with the body, tell the human story.
14:58As a graphic artist and painter, Kainibi's art focuses on human subjects and their experiences of oppression.
15:05An example of this would be the events that took place in the town of Odi in the Delta region.
15:12Odi is rich with oil, but it is also poor and polluted.
15:22The Delta region lies in south of Nigeria.
15:26In November 1991, under the rulership of President Obasanjo,
15:30the Nigerian military took action against protesters in Odi in the Delta region.
15:36Angry community members were demanding a greater share in the oil wells.
15:43In 1999, I did some sketches.
15:45When Obasanjo sent some military people to annihilate the women of Odi,
15:51the people of Odi, soldiers were sent there because they were protesting about the oil.
15:58And then some women were raped by these soldiers.
16:02And then that escalated into something massive, and then they started to kill these women.
16:09The sketch from the first painting I made about Odi in 1999 triggered this particular work.
16:18And so it's a combination of what's happened and all the many atrocities that's happened
16:25that's brought ordinary man to tears in our country today.
16:29So here, I took it further by trying to even erase those memories like they did, the perpetrators did.
16:39So by cancelling out, you're giving voice to that.
16:44So this black is technically like a strikethrough?
16:46The black is striking it.
16:48Strikethrough, and then you're sort of...
16:50Emphasising.
16:51Emphasising to that, you know, that is beautiful.
16:56I know that Kainebi has a new project in the works, so I offered to lend him a hand.
17:02Okay, so you pick the aluminium cans that's flattened, and then you take it to the board,
17:09place it how you want, and then you tap.
17:12This is so much fun and enjoying this.
17:16And also, I think there's some element of therapy in this as well for you, is it?
17:26I enjoy it. It's playful for me.
17:30This is not bad at all. I think I can double up as your assistant.
17:34Leaving behind Kainebi, our DWRC Africa journey now takes us downtown,
17:39where the streets of Lagos are often used for film shoots.
17:45Nigeria is known for its huge cinema industry called Nollywood.
17:51It is the second largest film sector globally,
17:54and was worth an estimated US$6.4 billion.
17:59Abisola Omolade is a well-known production designer,
18:03putting a visual stamp on the screen.
18:06We travel to the suburb of Magodo, where Abisola has her office.
18:11Welcome to my production space. Please come in, let me show you.
18:18Abisola is a film producer, and she has been in the film industry for over 20 years.
18:24She has been in the film industry for over 20 years,
18:27These images are from some of the film sets that Abisola has designed.
18:32She's worked on projects such as family and crime dramas,
18:38and commercials.
18:43This is my office.
18:46I work in Nollywood, you know, people are loving things like supernatural,
18:51horror, people going on personal journeys,
18:56and love.
18:57Behind me are some of my works that I've done.
19:00I've art-directed on this project, and I've done production designs on them.
19:08I'm working on a new project, it's called Aura.
19:11We have to recreate one of the busiest markets in Lagos.
19:15These things are very Nigerian.
19:21I just love art so much, and it's very instrumental to my work.
19:26I work with lots of artists.
19:28I do collaborations with them,
19:31and then we sit down together and say,
19:33OK, we're trying to create something different,
19:36something that is symbolic to the story.
19:40The quality of art also tells the social class of the people in the stories.
19:45So when my friends see any film or any ad,
19:48they can easily tell that I was the one who did the art direction.
19:52I'm very intentional about the way that I use art.
19:55I'm also big on quality and not quantity.
20:00Abisola researches for new ideas at Lekki Face 1,
20:04home to the Nike Art Gallery.
20:11This is the biggest art gallery in West Africa,
20:14and Abisola comes here to find pieces for her films from this collection,
20:18which covers contemporary as well as traditional art.
20:25Keep watching Nollywood if you want to see my work.
20:35Moving northwards on DW's Artsy Africa journey,
20:38we're going to a huge event that gathers artists and collectors
20:42from across West Africa and beyond.
20:45Now we're at Artex, the premier art fair in West Africa,
20:49and we're here to see the very best of art,
20:52from curators to artists to art collectors and enthusiasts.
20:56This is the place to be in Lagos during the art season.
20:59So come with me and let me show you the very best.
21:03Since its first edition in 2015,
21:06Artex has attracted growing attention.
21:10With the local appetite for art increasing each year.
21:27Despite economic challenges and global downturns,
21:30the art market has remained resilient in Lagos.
21:34Living behind Artex, we travel an hour east to the walking-class suburb of Ejibo.
21:41This is the place to be in Lagos.
21:45We're here to see the very best of art,
21:48from curators to artists and enthusiasts.
21:53We're here to see the very best of art,
21:56from curators to artists and enthusiasts.
21:59Living behind Artex, we travel an hour east to the walking-class suburb of Ejibo.
22:10And now I'm about to present the artist Jalili Atiku.
22:15Professor Jalili Atiku is an internationally celebrated multimedia artist,
22:19who uses his performance to give a voice to his concerns about human rights and social justice in Nigeria.
22:30When I meet Jalili, he's busy preparing props for his performances.
22:38So, tell me about this piece.
22:40You know, this is one of the objects for the performance,
22:44which I titled, Don't Eat Garlic Near the Queen.
22:49And actually to create kind of a symbolic object,
22:52that actually explains the actions,
22:55and the effects of colonialism.
22:57And I'm trying to bring out the consequences of it in the bone.
23:01You know, using the bone and some of the destruction which they have done it to.
23:05And when you see bone, the life has already gone out of that.
23:08And that's exactly what the British have done to us as a people.
23:15Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-19th century until 1960.
23:21In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II was buried.
23:25And this event inspired Jalili to create a performance piece,
23:29that is a critique on the complex relationship that Nigeria still has with the United Kingdom,
23:35called Do Not Eat Garlic Near the Queen.
23:51Do Not Eat Garlic Near the Queen
24:02The death of a queen is actually the death of colonialism.
24:06I was in London during the Queen burial.
24:09I went to the palace and saw millions of people trying to pray.
24:14Then I was asking myself a question about that.
24:17Does she actually represent humanity? The ideal of humanity?
24:24Jalili's other impactful performance is The Museum is a Colonial Master.
24:29And in it, he transforms himself into a trickster figure,
24:33who re-enacts a ritual in which he smashes a glass museum display cabinet
24:38to liberate a traditional figurine.
24:41Do Not Eat Garlic Near the Queen
24:47So why did you choose performance as a medium?
24:49I adopted performance as a medium because it's more of organic.
24:54And it's also to penetrate into the psyche of my audience.
24:59It's like that connection.
25:01And you begin to feel the context of what I'm passing to you.
25:06So it's about connectedness, it's about oneness.
25:09It's also about the embodied memories that the body carries as well.
25:14All right, see you soon.
25:15Thank you so much. Bye bye.
25:21As we depart from Jalili and head to the waterfront,
25:24I'm reflecting on how the artists we have seen are all reinterpreting Nigerian culture
25:29with post-colonial confidence and pride.
25:34And this brings us to the end of DW's Artsy Africa
25:38with love from Lagos.