More interesting guests visit CCA,Lagos

It was with great joy that I received artist, friend, colleague and neighbour Dominique Zinkpe from Rep of Benin at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos. I had worked closely with him on the inaugural exhibition for the National Museum of Bamako 'Contact Zone' when I commissioned the work Taxi Bamako which is now in the collection of the museum. During my curatorial research visit to his home in Cotonou we used to spend many hours on his large balcony ( which also harboured his studio) overlooking the beach talking about life, about art and about our hopes and aspirations within the art sector for our respective countries and for our continent - and of course we talked about his new work. I had always encouraged him to come to Lagos but like many of our smaller neighbours this megacity of over 15million seems overwhelming for them.

Bisi Silva and Dominique Zinkpe
I am glad he made the trip finally and we continued our conversations with visiting curator Claire Tancons who was in Nigeria doing research on a longterm project she was working on.
Kudos to Claire for her adventurous spirit - which almost put me to shame - as she struck out on a not very easy road trip to Osogbo, Benin and then to Enugu by road before flying from Enugu back to Lagos all in 4 days. On the way she had to let go of her 'supposed' expert guide who didn't seem to know the way or much more than she did about getting from one place to another and continue on her own. And she did!!!! She is then went on to Douala, Cameroon. I hope she adds a travelling through Africa journal to her project.

Claire Tancons and Dominique Zinkpe