artspeakafrica

CCA,Lagos Artist-in-Residence Albert Potrony Talk, Sat 27th Nov 2010, 2pm

2010-11-24T05:31:00.003Z

Albert Potrony, Artist in Residence at CCA,Lagos

In another pioneering initiative Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to present a collaborative international art residency programme. In collaboration with the internationally renowned London based art organisation Gasworks, we are pleased to present artist Albert Potrony who will be based at CCA, Lagos for 5 weeks from 1sth November to 7th December 2010.

Artist-in-residence Talk, Saturday 27th November 2pm

Meet, greet and interact with Albert after his presentationand his research interest whilst in Lagos.

During his stay in Lagos his research will focus on Lagos Churches and Pastors

I would like to contact male and female pastors from a variety of churches that represent various sections of the population. I am interested in having a conversation about their journey to becoming a pastor, looking at various elements of the religious discourse/language – Their Calling, their Mandate, moments of Epiphany, what Deliverance means to them and their relationship to ‘miracles’.

The 2nd part will focus on Lagosians

In a very simple way I would like to document conversations with Lagosians asking them a few simple questions:

What Faith means to you? How Faith affects your everyday life? Have you had any moment of ‘epiphany’ or of understating something about yourself through your beliefs? What does ‘deliverance’ mean to you? Do you believe in miracles?

For examples of previous work please go to www.albertpotrony.com

This residency has been supported by Gasworks, London

LAST CHANCE. ENDING SATURDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2010. DO NOT MISS!!!!!!

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere:Sartorial Moment and the Nearness of Yesterday.

Due to the unprecented interest the exhibition Sartorial Moment and the Nearness of Yesterday has been extended till end of November 2010. Focusing on a small part of Ojeikere’s archive we present works that highlight the fashion of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, in Nigerian as well as in Western Styles. Also included are his internationally acclaimed hairstyle and headtie styles.

2010-11-19T15:32:00.008Z

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere:Sartorial Moments and the
Nearness of Yesterday continues...

Due to the unprecented interest the exhibition Sartorial Moment and the Nearness of Yesterday has been extended till end of November 2010. Focusing on a small part of Ojeikere’s archive we present works that highlight the fashion of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, in Nigeria as well as Western Styles of the day. Also included are his internationally acclaimed hairstyle and headtie photographs.

We welcome the opportunity to tour this exhibition.
For more information contact info@ccalagos.org

CCA,Lagos
9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos

Work-in-Progress re-launches at CCA,Lagos at 2pm on Saturday 20th Nov, 2010

2010-11-19T15:21:00.004Z

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos re-launches the professional development platform called Work-in-Progress on Saturday the 20th of November 2010. 2pm

WIP provides an opportunity for artists, critics, curators to present a project during the developmental process and in return receive constructive critiques from an engaged audience.Work-in-Progress provides a much needed platform to flesh out problems, elaborate on ideas, to explore varied possibilities and to get feedback from colleagues.The aim is to tackle the isolation cultural practitioners sometimes feeling in creating new work and developing their idea and moving to an advanced level in their work and experimentations.

Expected Results include:

presenters benefit from early feedback from their peers and colleagues.
Presenters can hone their ideas further, take what is useful, play around with what is not so useful and make useful what is useless.
Presenters can develop their communication skills and learn to articulate their ideas fully within 15mins.
Audience member will also develop their communication and critical skills. They must be able to convincingly substantiate/argue their points for and against a particular idea.

WIP 2 Saturday 20^th November 2010 2pm - 4.30pm

Uchay Joel Chima,Visual Artist.

Uchay Joel Chima will talk about his recent residency in Amsterdam which focused on developing his skills in video art. He will also touch on one or two of the works created as a result of the residency.

Andrew Esiebo, Photographer, video artist

Andrew will be exploring new creative territories, integrating multi-media practice with the investigation of issues on football, sexuality and identity.

Abraham Oghobase, Photographer
Abraham will present We Are All Human Beings This current body of work is about previously inhabited spaces, vacated apartments in my neighbourhood in Maryland, Lagos that echo with the life they once harboured. The ghost of things that former occupants (childhood friends, a primary school teacher) left behind form a history that is hard to ignore, hence my desire to explore them.

9 McEwen Street
Sabo, Yaba
Lagos

Felabration starts at CCA,Lagos on 9th Oct with autobiography Fela:This Bitch of A Life by Carlos Moore

2010-10-08T21:31:00.004+01:00

First published in 1982, Fela: This Bitch of a Life is the authoritative text on the life and times of Africa's greatest ever musician.

In just under 350 pages, the reader is invited to the living room of Fela’s iconoclastic mind, discovering from the inside the key turning points in his life – his childhood in Abeokuta and the forceful influence of his parents, especially his mother; student life in England; his coming to black consciousness in America (and his encounters with Funk and some of the key players in African-American musical and political culture); his return to Nigeria and setting up the Shrine and Kalakuta Republic and his increasingly painful struggles with the authorities in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s.

Reading about Fela brings to life post-Independence African history in all its turbulence and drama. The book also includes interviews with some of Fela’s wives, allowing the reader to get an intimate perspective on Fela as a husband and as a lover.

The author, Carlos Moore, will be touring Nigeria this October:

Saturday 9th October, 4pm: Centre for Contemporary Art, 9 McEwen St, Sabo, Lagos. Click here to reserve your place. Click for map.

Sunday 10th October, 4pm: The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo St, off Younis Bashoroun St, off Ajose Adeogun, VI, Lagos (with live band). Click here to reserve your place. Special guests Keziah Jones and Guitar Man. Click for map.

Monday 11th October, 10am: The New Africa Shrine, NERDC Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. Lecture "Fela: Music is the Weapon" (Symposium titled The Fela Debates - part of the annual Felabration).

Wednesday 13th October, 11am: UNILAG, 4th floor, Faculty of Arts Boardroom (in conjunction with CBAAC). Public lecture, "What is Africa to me? Fela Kuti and the reshaping of the Pan-African Dream in the post-colonial era."

Saturday 16th October, 4pm: French Cultural Centre, 52 Libreville St, Wuse, Abuja. Click here to reserve your place. Click for map.

Note that for the events on the 9th, 10th and 16th October, there is a N2,000 entrance fee (which includes a copy of the book). Fela: This Bitch of a Life will only be available to buy at these events this year.

Don't miss this year's Felabrati on. From the 12th - 17th October, the following artists will be playing at The Shrine: D'banj, Kwam1, Nneka, Ayetoro, Seun & Femi Kuti, Kezia Jones, Awilo Longomba.

culled from www.cassavarepublic.biz

J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere's photography exhibition opens at CCA,Lagos on 1st October 2010

2010-10-01T08:12:00.003+01:00

The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos has, over the course of the last year (2009-2010), tailored all of its programming to interact with notions of post-coloniality and its related ambivalence. In so doing, we developed a series of projects under the thematic rubric of “On Independence and the Ambivalence of Promise.” One such project concerns exploring the intersections of art, fashion and identity, and how these relations might enable us to critically interact with the present while remaining mindful of both our past and future. Given this, we present J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere: Sartorial Moments and the Nearness of Yesterday, a vibrant, yet topical, exhibition that celebrates Nigeria’s Independence and cultural heritage from the perspective of one of the country’s most esteemed and talented artist.

CCA,Lagos is excited and honoured to work with foto ojeikere to present this select body of work by internationally renowned Nigerian photographer J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere with many of the images being published for the exhibition for the first time. Other exhibitions currently featuring Ojeikere include as part of the The Idea of Africa (re-invented) Africa project #1: J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, Lagos. Whilst the forthcoming solo exhibition of his works curated by Aura Seikkula and Bisi Silva will be shown at Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki as part of ARS 11 from April 2011.

Exhibition 1st - 14th October 2010
Monday - Friday 10-6
Saturday 12-4pm

9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba,Lagos
Off Herbert Macaulay Street (before sabo junction)

CALL FOR ARTISTS, CCA, Lagos / Triangle Artists Workshop - Nigeria

2010-09-04T12:31:00.007+01:00

Call for Artists Applications!!!
CCA Lagos / Triangle Arts Trust Workshop - Nigeria

October 4 -17, 2010, Lagos

CCA Lagos and Triangle Arts Trust are organising the first Triangle Workshop at Stone House in Alakuko, Lagos and are inviting application from artists working in all disciplines.

The two-week workshop will bring together a group of artists working in various disciplines to share ideas, experiences and to make new work inspired by the context and the opportunity to work alongside other artists. Approximately 18 artists will participate in the workshop, half from Nigeria and the rest from other countries in Africa and further afield. During the workshop participants will also be invited to present their work to each other and to the public. The workshop will end with an Open Day, when the public will join the artists in celebrating the outcome of the two weeks.

Financial conditions
The workshop will provide the successful applicants with full lodging and food, working space, local transportation and a small material stipend. International artists will be able to apply to have their international travel covered by the workshop.

Procedure for applications and deadline
All candidates must apply using the application form and submit all the required documents listed in the form. Closing date for applications 18th September 2010

The completed application forms and required documents should be sent by e-mail to
ccalagos.workshop@gmail.com
While email communication is encouraged, if this is not possible, artists could send their material by DVD or other format to the following address:
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9, McEwen Street, Sabo
Lagos, Nigeria

Please note that: Work or material sent by post cannot be returned.
Late applications cannot be reviewed. Successful candidates will be informed by 21st of September 2010
For more information or any inquiries, please contact ccalagos.workshop@gmail.com

About the organisers:
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA,Lagos) is an independent non-profit making visual art organisation providing a platform for the development, presentation, and discussion of contemporary visual art and culture. www.ccalagos.org

The Triangle Network is an international network of artists and arts organisations that promotes exchange of ideas and innovation within the contemporary visual arts. Through artist-led workshops, residencies, exhibitions and outreach events, the network generates peer-to-peer learning, professional development for artists and the dissemination of emerging international art practices. www.trianglearts.org

The workshop is funded by the British Museum, Commonwealth Foundation and the The Ford Foundation and supported by Triangle Arts Trust.

National Gallery of Zimbabwe presents Harare Conversations

2010-08-16T18:26:00.001+01:00

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ZIMBABWE

In partnership with GWANZA

Presents

Harare Conversations

‘BREAKING BOUNDARIES OF ART, GENDER, AND CULTURAL CONCEPTIONS’

WEDNESDAY 25th AUGUST 2010

10:00h to 15:30h

SPEAKERS:

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: TAPFUMA GUTSA (Deputy Director NGZ)

CALVIN DONDO FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF GWANZA

VALERIE KABOV VISITING ACADEMIC, ART HISTORIAN AND ART CRITIQUE

TONY MHONDA NATIONAL GALLERY OF ZIMBABWE EDUCATION OFFICER, ART CRITIQUE, ARTIST, POST COLONIAL SCHOLAR

SIMONE LEIGH ARTIST (USA) New York

JAMES ALLAN GREEN NEW MEDIA ARTIST, CANADA

CO-MODERATORS

Raphael Chikukwa

National Gallery of Zimbabwe Curator

Thomas Pasirayi

National Gallery of Zimbabwe Assistant Curator

BOOKINGS: please contact the Curatorial team TEL: 04 704666/7, E-MAILS, chikukwa@yahoo.com, pasirayit@gmail.com

Benin1897.com at the University of Ibadan

2010-08-09T18:31:00.003+01:00

INVITATION

Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question

Peju Layiwola

Exhibition to be declared open by

Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, LLB, BL, S.A.N

President of the Nigerian Bar Association

DATE: 20 August-October 10, 2010

OPENING CEREMONY 20 August, 2010 @4.00pm

VENUE: Museum, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan,

Oyo State, Nigeria

To commemorate Nigeria at 50 and also as Post inaugural Exhibition in honour of Professor Dele Layiwola, Immediate Past Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

OTHER DAYS Weekdays 9-4pm daily, Saturday 10am-2pm (Closed on Sunday)

RSVP: 08023236410 Catalogue available

Visit the website here

Nigeria's Art Collectors in the news

2010-08-03T19:30:00.007+01:00

A Nice New Market

IN A suburb of Lagos, Nigeria’s business capital, Yemisi Shyllon lives in a house full of bronze statues of African tribal rulers and brightly coloured beadwork landscapes. He may be Nigeria’s biggest art collector, with some 6,000 pieces by his count. “I don’t go out much,” he says, “I have enough to look at here.” Read more

The Global Africa Project Exhibition

2010-07-29T07:30:00.003+01:00

The Global Africa Project Explores the Impact of African Visual Culture on Contemporary Art, Craft, and Design around the World

Groundbreaking Exhibition Challenging Traditional Conceptions of "African" Aesthetic Opens at MAD this November

New York (April 14, 2010) - An unprecedented exhibition exploring the broad spectrum of contemporary African art, design, and craft worldwide, The Global Africa Project premieres at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) this November. Featuring the work of over 60 artists in Africa, Europe, Asia, the United States, and the Caribbean, The Global Africa Project surveys the rich pool of new talent emerging from the African continent and its influence on artists around the world. Through ceramics, basketry, textiles, jewelry, furniture, and fashion, as well as selective examples of architecture, photography, painting, and sculpture, the exhibition actively challenges conventional notions of a singular African aesthetic or identity, and reflects the integration of African art and design without making the usual distinctions between "professional" and "artisan." Read more http://www.madmuseum.org/

CCA,Lagos' Art-iculate presents two lectures by Chika Okeke-Agulu

2010-07-22T05:30:00.008+01:00

art-iculate: lectures on contemporary art and visual culture

Sunday 25^th July 2010 3pm

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos has initiated a dynamic platform for discussions on visual art and culture since opening its doors in January 2008. We have invited artists, critics, writers, curators and funders to talk about their work and their ideas and share their skills and knowledge. In 2009, we began the Art-iculate lecture series that aims to increase dialogue, encourage debate and stimulate exchange in visual art and culture in Nigeria. By prioritising the provision of an independent discursive platform through our public programmes, we hope to actively encourage the development of critical perspectives as well as engage with topical issues that affect our society specifically as well as the world at large.

In 2008/2009 Art-iculate invited to much acclaim Didier Schaub (Doual'Art, Cameroon), Solange Farkas (Videobrasil, Sao Paulo) Yacouba Konate (University of Abidjan, Abidjan) Monna Mokoena (MOMO Gallery, Johannesburg) and Shahidul Alam (Drik Agency, Dhaka).

In 2010 Art-iculate is pleased to invite US based Nigerian art historian and curator Chika Okeke-Agulu who will be presenting his lectures on two consecutive Sundays - 25th of July and 1st of August.

Title: “Who Knows Tomorrow at the Nationalgalerie, Berlin”
Discusses on the project concept and the curatorial process of the art exhibition Who Knows Tomorrow, which consists of five independent projects by five African artists — El Anatsui, Zarina Bhimji, Antonio Ole, Yinka Shonibare, and Pascale Marthine Tayou — at four museums of the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. The lecture will cover issues around presentation of contemporary African art and artists in mainstream Western museums, as well as the politics of representation and identity in the age of globalisation.

About Chika Okeke-Agulu
Chika Okeke-Agulu is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and Assistant Professor of art history in the Department of Art and Archaeology, and Center for African American Studies, Princeton University. In 2007, he served as the Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor, Williams College. He co-organized Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa (Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1995), The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994 (Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, 2001), Life Objects: Rites of Passage in African Art (Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, 2010), and Who Knows Tomorrow (Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2010)

His writings on African and African Diaspora art and artists have appeared in South Atlantic Quarterly, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Glendora Review, African Arts, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Art South Africa, and in edited volumes. He is co-author (with Okwui Enwezor) of Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Damiani, 2009), co-editor of Who Knows Tomorrow (König, 2010), and editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art.

The lectures are made possible by the Class of ’59 Faculty Fund, Princeton University

NOTE
On Sunday, 1^st August 2010, 3pm , Chika Okeke-Agulu presents his second lecture on “The Art and Politics of Ghada Amer”

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.

Tel 0702836 7106 www.ccalagos.org

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos presents Slovenian Artists Collective, IRWIN

2010-07-21T07:22:00.009+01:00

Towards A Double Consciousness:NSK Passport Project.

26^th - 31^st July, 2010

NSK Passport, 1993, courtesy IRWIN

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos is pleased to host the internationally renowned artists collective IRWIN, members of NSK (new Slovenian Art). Over a one week period of screenings, lectures and panel discussions, Towards a Double Consciousness: NSK Passport Project will take as its point of departure, NSK’s artistic intervention State in Time and its increasing significance in Africa especially within the context of Nigeria. State in Time, one of the most (in)famous projects produced by NSK, evolved out of their earlier activities, finding formation as a ‘state’ at the collapse of Yugoslavia and the coming into existence of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991. NSK’s State in Time transcends a physical geographical location or a defined statehood within a prescribed ethnic, cultural or religious belief, providing what IRWIN collaborator and writer Alexei Monroe describes as “a conceptual form of identification for individuals from diverse nationalities.”

Since the initial presentations around the world in the 1990s of State in Time the project is currently receiving a substantial number of requests for citizenship of the NSK State from Africa especially from Nigeria. This has resulted in many Nigerians assuming a dual identity as holders of NSK and Nigerian passports. In view of these new developments IRWIN conducted interviews with African/NSK citizens living in London, to ascertain their reasons for applying. Could it be in support of the initial artistic purpose of NSK? Do they see it as an avenue with which to move from one territory to another? Or is it for other socio-political reasons? Towards a Double Consciousness: NSK Passport project will allow further debate on both the artistic and political implications of the NSK State in Time action, offering an examination of their original artistic interventions within the Nigerian context.

This project forms part of CCA,Lagos’ year long programme On Independence and The Ambivalence of Promise celebrating 50 years of independence by seventeen African countries including Nigeria on the 1^st October 2010. It provides an avenue to interrogate notions of nationhood at a time when our ideas of citizenship is continuously being challenged by state policies such as Nigeria’s contentious ‘federal character’ system or through religious and ethnic disturbances such as the recent unrest in the city of Jos, as well as the perennial civic unrest of the oil rich Niger Delta. Towards a Double Consciousness attempts to interrogate the way in which artists propose and individuals search for an alternative - real or fictional - possibility that goes beyond notions of a fixed identity or geography.

IRWIN is a collective of artists Dušan Mandič (b. 1954), Miran Mohar (b. 1958), Andrej Savski (b. 1961), Roman Uranjek (b. 1961) and Borut Vogelnik (b. 1959), which comprises one of the core groups within the artists’ collective Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK). IRWIN was founded in 1983 in Slovenia. Recent exhibitions include: The Promises of the Past, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2010; The Eye of the State, The Israel Center for Digital Art, Holon, Israel, 2010; Third New Old Cold War, Moscow Biennial, Red October; Modernities, Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA), Barcelona; State in Time, Kunsthalle Krems, 2009. The members of the group live and work in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Programme

26^th – 31^st July 2010

Screening: Research interview of NSK Citizens as well as artists based in Nigeria.

Friday, 30 July 2010 Time: 3:00pm

Topic: Introduction to media art and the use of video in relation to other forms of new media, technology and performance in contemporary art.

Speakers include;Dr. Inke Arns, IRWIN members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik and Performance artist Jelili Atiku.

Saturday, 31 July, Time 2pm

Screening: 2:00pm Screening of interviews with African NSK passport holders living in London.

Panel Discussion: 3:00pm

Topic: NSK State: The Nigerian connection. A discussion on the significance of an artistic action made in Europe in the 90s on contemporary African consciousness.

Speakers include; Dr Inke Arns, IRWIN members: Miran Mohar and Borut Vogelnik, NSK member Eda Cufer and Nigerian NSK passport holders. Moderated by Loren Hansi Momodu.

Curator: Loren Hansi Momodu

Curatorial Advisors; Dr. Inke Arns, Director, HMKV, Dortmund and Bisi Silva, Director, CCA,Lagos

The Advanced Cultural Management Programme and Towards a Double Consciousness are supported by the Goethe Institute, Johannesburg and Nigeria.

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba

Lagos, Nigeria

www.ccalagos.org

CCA,Lagos Summer Programme News

2010-07-16T07:25:00.004+01:00

Until 21st July: Pret a Partager featuring the works of 17 artists, photographers, fashion designers from across Africa and Germany continues in 3 venues: Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Sabo, Yaba College of Art and Technology, Yaba and African Artist Foundation, Ikoyi. Presented in collaboration with Goethe Institute, Lagos

From 19th to 21st July : NSK Passport Video Interviews. Still time to participate, call 08034392413 for your time 30min time slot. Supported by Goethe Institute, Lagos

From 26th - 31st July: Double Consciousness:NSK Passport Project. An exhibition, roundtable discussions and screening featuring internationally renowned Slovenian artist collective IRWIN (3 members will be in lagos) international respected scholar and curator, and director of new media art centre HMKV Dr. Inke Arns, performance artist and sculptor Jelili Atiku as well as independent curator Bisi Silva. Curated and moderated by Hansi Momodu, MA candidate, Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London and adjunct assistant curator, CCA,Lagos. Supported by Goethe Institute, Lagos

July 25th and August 1st: Art-iculate, Lecture series on contemporary art and visual culture features two Sunday afternoon lectures by Chika Okeke-Agulu, US based Nigerian art historian, curator and associate professor of art history, Princeton University. His first lecture will be about the curatorial framework of the current exhibition project “Who Knows tomorrow ” at at the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, followed by a 2nd lecture “The Art and Politics of Ghada Amer.” The lectures are made possible by the Class of ’59 Faculty Fund, Princeton University.

A critique of Okwui Enwezor's curatorial regime by Sylvester Ogbechie

2010-07-14T07:51:00.002+01:00

The Curator as Culture Broker (A Critique of the Curatorial Regime of Okwui Enwezor in the Discourse of Contemporary African Art).

I presented this essay recently at the University of California Santa Cruz, at a conference titled The Task of the Curator. The general audience reception to my presentation showed me that the issue discussed here is being very much debated in the field of African art history. However, few people have written about it. I think formal critical analysis of our work and positions are very important for a field to grow. I am posting this in the hope that it allows us to start discussing the important issues it touches on.

Read the full text on Aachronym

Antawan Byrd writes about one of his artists' studio visit in Lagos

2010-07-14T06:55:00.006+01:00

It is rare to read informative write up on studio visits to artist on the continent let alone get it into a 'mainstream' platform. Here's a good one.

Painting as Politics: A Studio Visit with Kainebi Osahenye
Kainebi Osahenye has developed a reputation as one of the most significant artists living and working in Nigeria today. Aware of this, I was quite excited when the artist agreed to meet with me. It was a typically arid and muggy afternoon when I visited him at one of his studios in the Maryland neighborhood of Lagos. He met me at the gate of the compound housing his studio, and after a warm welcome, he quickly apologized for being “a little all over the place.”

Continue reading here

Inspired

2010-07-10T11:23:00.001+01:00

Found this as I surfed around the net and a nice blog too. Check it out.

may 11, 2010 - inspired

last sunday afternoon at 4pm, i found myself at the new museum. bisi silva, the director/founder of the contemporary center for arts in lagos, nigeria was discussing her process... continue reading here

prêt-à-partager at Yaba School of Art Gallery

2010-07-10T08:56:00.010+01:00

CCA,Lagos is pleased to collaborating on an international project for the second time with the Fine Art Department at Yaba School of Art and Technology . The first time was in 2008 with the Picha Africa comics exhibition featuring over 19 comic artists from Africa. The gallery is open Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm

prêt-à-partager is an African wide touring exhibition organised by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (ifa) and presented to a Lagos audience in partnership with Yaba College of Art and Technology Fine Art Department, Goethe Institute, Lagos and African Art Foundation.

Exhibition sites:

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9, McEwen Street, off Herbert Macaulay, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos
Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm

Gallery of the Yaba College of Technology
P.M.B. 2011, Yaba, Lagos
Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm

African Artists’ Foundation
54 Raymond Njoku Street, off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 11 am to 5 pm & Saturday, 12 pm to 5 pm

Bisi Silva: going beyond the normal workshop practice in Africa

2010-07-08T15:57:00.002+01:00

Interview with Bisi Silva by Marian Nur Goni

Independent curator and art critic, founder and director of Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos), a centre promoting contemporary art opened in December 2007, Bisi Silva discusses the latest international art photography workshop held there in February-March 2010. Based on the 2010 theme "On Independence and the Ambivalence of Promise", this workshop aimed to innovate in the field of workshops held in Africa by placing the accent on the theoretical and critical thought offered to artists.

Published by Africultures

CCA,Lagos presents: prêt-à-partager a transcultural exchange in art, fashion and sports

2010-07-02T16:26:00.005+01:00

Exhibtion Dates 3rd - 18th July 2010
Artists’ talk: 3^rd July 2010 at 3 pm
Opening : 3^rd July 2010 at 5 pm
Venue:Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9 McEwen Street, Sabo, Yaba.

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos has gained worldwide recognition for its dynamic and innovative programming of solo and group exhibition of artists from Nigeria, Africa and from around the world. As we continue our programme in celebration of fifity years of Independence we present the second exhibition in our focus on Art, Fashion and Identity.

We are please to be the Nigerian host of an African wide touring exhibition prêt-à-partager organised by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (ifa) and presented to a Lagos audience in partnership with Yaba College of Art and Technology Fine Art Department, Goethe Institute, Lagos and African Art Foundation.

Following an invitation by the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (ifa), seventeen artists from Africa and Europe came to Dakar in November 2008 to engage with fashion, identity, history and movement in a ten-day multimedia and interdisciplinary workshop. The artists brought influences from Berlin, Kinshasa, Dakar, London, Stuttgart, Douala, Hamburg and Johannesburg with them to the Senegalese capital and together developed projects in a wide variety of artistic genres. The artworks created during the workshop – such as photographs, films and video, sound and room installations – will be on display for two years in Africa in the prêt-à-partager exhibition.

After the premiere in Dakar in September 2009, it has been shown in Maputo, Mozambique, before its current in Lagos. The tour will continue to east and south Africa the exhibition will travel to East and South Africa. The prêt-à-partager exhibition is a transnational artistic dialogue on fashion, sport, Africa and its Diaspora.

These collected works take the varied meanings and possibilities of clothing and fashion as determined by society and individuals and explore them in myriad ways that go beyond their function as consumer goods or economic factors. The Dakar metropolitan area serves as the stage for the protagonists of a world in constant flux, where concepts of identity are fluid. The artists have utilised the tapestries of their own history and familiarisation with new cultural practices to develop striking works, hybrid creations which are socially explosive.

The Artists

Cultural transfers inform the work of Zohra Opoku (GH/DE), a fashion designer from Hamburg. The white jump suit she designed and then presented in the streets of Dakar was inspired by Capoeira. Ndiaga Diaw (SN) also incorporates Capoeira movements in his creative work. The convertible outfit he designed can be worn in six different ways. Astrid S. Klein (DE) used Opoku’s and Diaw’s designs in her performances in empty movie theatres, in which she reflected on the economic and social changes transforming the cityscape of Dakar.

The fashion designer Zille Homma Hamid (PK/DE) took as her inspiration the colours of West African fashion and used traditional, hand-woven materials from Senegal in her design for a coat. In her textile designs, Naffisatou Diop (SN) plays with the idea of veiling and concealment. Her lingerie outfits are exciting aesthetic statements on body and gender politics. In her reaction to the work of the other artists in the workshop, the photographer and textile artist Simone Gilges (DE) honed in on those pieces making use of the techniques and traditions of the local weaving trade.

Friedrich M. Ploch (DE) built his installation out of objects found on the beaches of Dakar, creating a reminder of the fragility of every moment. In his performance, Philip Metz (GH/DE) examined the image of the “typical African” from both a German and a Senegalese perspective. The performance and video artist Athi-Patra Ruga (ZA) looks in his work at the danger the rampant homophobia in West Africa poses to the body and soul of homosexuals.

The work of fashion designer Ule Barcélos (GW/PT/DE) take as its object the enhancement and creative redesigning of cheap clothes with the use of logos and decorations, a widespread practice among less privileged children and young people in the urban centres of Africa. The pictures photographer Lolo Veleko (ZA) brought back from her wanderings through the cityscape of Dakar capture street fashion and architecture in different light conditions.

Lambert Mousseka (CD/DE) uses his “work trousers” to make visible indispensable forms of work that do not receive the recognition they deserve in a world of globalised labour. The work of artist Goddy Leye (CM) addresses the loss of childhood innocence caused by human trafficking, prostitution and, especially, forced marriage. The photographs of Mamadou Gomis (SN) reflect the processes in which different works of art came to be and project new stories onto them. Akinbode Akinbiyi (NG)’s black and white photos capture a number of situations and moments during the workshop, giving the visitors a peek behind the scenes.

General Information

Aktion Afrika

ifa is a partner of the Aktion Afrika initiative sponsored by the German Foreign Office. Aktion Afrika was conceived in the wake of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm and redeems part of the German government’s pledge made at the time. The Aktion Afrika programme expands the Foreign Office’s cultural involvement in Africa, stimulates the education sector and creates viable structures of cooperation in the cultural sector. The programme was launched on January 1, 2008.

Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (ifa)

The Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V. (ifa) is the oldest inter- mediary organisation for foreign cultural policy in Germany. It is supported by the German Foreign Office, the state of Baden- and the state capital Stuttgart. As a leading German institution of international artistic exchange, ifa conceives and organises exhibitions of German art on all continents, thereby initiating intercultural dialogue and enriching artistic discourse. The Institute supports exhibition projects and awards grants. The ifa galleries in Stuttgart and Berlin showcase art, architecture and design from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

An exhibition organised by the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa)

Exhibition sites:

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

9, McEwen Street, off Herbert Macaulay, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos

Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm

Gallery of the Yaba College of Art and Technology

P.M.B. 2011, Yaba, Lagos

Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4 pm

African Artists’ Foundation

54 Raymond Njoku Street, off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos

Opening hours : Monday to Friday, 11 am to 5 pm & Saturday, 12 pm to 5 pm

Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos acknowledges the support of Arts Collaboratory in presenting the exhibition in Lagos.

USA still on my mind...

2010-07-02T16:05:00.004+01:00

It has been too busy since I got back from the States in hmm... May but I still want to write about the wonderful experiences. Since then I have on and off a plane, trying to meet deadlines and catching up with work at CCA,Lagos. In the meantime so as not to lose the trail, I post here a two nice pictures whilst in Chicago.

I won't put the names of these art institution directors or curators so as not
to embarrass anyone further but suffice it so say it was a night of curators un-serious.

Nice evening gathering at the house of gallerist Monique Meloche (left) myself
and Nigerian artist Nnenna Okore.(right)

Art Fair Chicago 30th April - 2nd May 2010

2010-05-01T02:07:00.000+01:00

Beyond the White Cube II: International Networks
NEXT Talk Shop, 7th Floor
Converge Curators Forum, Art Chicago
May 1, 2010
5-6:30 pm
How can the expansion of curatorial networks and collaborative practice between institutions internationally start to build the potential for new forms of exhibitions and exchange? How are practitioners re-thinking and re-defining their roles? Moderated by Kate Fowle, Executive Director of ICI (Independent Curators International), panelists include João Ribas, Curator, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston; Abigail Satinsky, Co-director, InCUBATE, Chicago; and Bisi Silva, independent curator and director CCA,Lagos.

Symbolic Meetings...

2010-04-30T23:29:00.001+01:00

Bisi Silva (left) and Alitash Kebede
I had barely landed in New York after a 24hour journey from Lagos, but somehow I managed to catch a bad bout of flu. However, this did not stop me fighting fatigue ( from my hectic lagos schedule) and jetlag so as to get up early enough the next morning for an impromptu meeting facilitated by Nigerian artist Bright Eke to meet with gallerist Alitash Kebede. Although I had been reading about her and her gallery in Los Angeles for over a decade I was only introduced to her - electronically - by Bright about 12-18months ago. Therefore, not minding the jetlag, I jumped at the opportunity to meet this intriguing woman . I wanted to hear, learn and take pointers from her story. Wasn't that the reason I was in America, to meet as many of the people I had read about and whose careers I had followed for many years, to meet new ones, to engage in interesting dialogues and in the process to learn as much as possible. As the saying goes, life is one continuous education.

With over 20years experience in the gallery business Alitash has so many stories to share and she darted from one incident to the other experience before I could digest the last one. I was trying to digest not only my sumptuous breakfast, but also the information about how she started the gallery , the invaluable mentorship of art historian Dr. Samella Lewis, her longterm professional and personal relationships with African American greats such as Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden as well as speaking about the pros and cons of how to tour exhibition, possible fundraising strategies for CCA,Lagos. We spoke about the necessity for long term support of artists' careers but also how not to burn out early. Alitash now devotes a lot of her time to programmes that take art to children as well as organising one off cultural events and projects. Our conversation moved back and forth on the lack of cultural infrastructure on the continent, the way we can continue to support the arts and especially nurture younger African artists as well as our irritation at the lack of interest from wealthy Africans to provide meaningful support to the visual arts or any arts for that matter. Wow what an inspiration!

Alitash said she had been following our work at CCA,Lagos and appreciated very much our efforts in a challenging environment. She could not hide her emotion at this fortuitous meeting, leaving me momentarily lost for words. (and thinking we are not on Oprah, are we?) Ah mean this is America! It was an incredible moment spent with such a generous, beautiful woman. As we parted, I felt sad but I know our paths will cross again soon. I couldn't have wished for a sweeter beginning to the journey ahead.

The inaugural ICI touring curatorial conversation series gets rolling

2010-04-30T01:48:00.000+01:00

I am really pleased and privileged to have been invited as the first touring curator for Independent Curators International. This new programme hinges on the premise that in addition to circulating objects (exhibitions) there is a need to also add the circulation of ideas and experiences through the works and presentations of curators from a diversity of backgrounds and contexts. On my part it is a welcome initiative which provides the opportunity after a long hiatus (nearly almost 15yrs since my last visit to the USA) to engage with the art community in the US, build networks and explore possibilities for future collaborations.

After what seemed like an interminable journey (17hrs) I arrived at JFK with my flu in full bloom. Yes nature's punishment for nonstop work and non stop travel. The next day I nonetheless jumped into another plane with ICI director Kate Fowle Chicago bound.

I will try and keep the blog updated with the American trip.

A new foundation brings together a stellar African and German photography collection

2010-04-25T23:43:00.003+01:00

The Walther Collection opens in June 2010 with "Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity," introducing works from its African collection. Under the curatorial direction of Okwui Enwezor the exhibition comprises a series of four projects filling all nine galleries in the three buildings of the new exhibition space in Burlafingen near Ulm, Southern Germany. It integrates the work of three generations of African artists and photographers with that of modern and contemporary German photography. This combination of African and German works will serve as a model for the kind of curatorial process that animates the character of the collecting program.

Find out more information about the Walther Collection

Read the full public release at e-flux

Nigerians Photographers on the Move Again to Dakar. Invisible Borders 2010

2010-04-23T20:37:00.002+01:00

I am always happy when I learn that visual artists or any group of artists are on the move - especially by road - within their region and within Africa. On one hand it is a serious challenge not meant for the fainthearted as they learnt the hard way on their first project Invisible Borders 2009 which took them to the Bamako Biennale. On the other hand it begins to address decades long of divide along arbitrary colonial lines. But more importantly with Africans on the move within their continent, could this be the long march (thanks Madiba) towards a real organic sense of unity.

In 1990 ECOWAS supposedly implemented the Borderless Region Procotol. A worthy initiative which has not been allowed to be turned into reality as going through many of these borders and the countries can be a feat harder than climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I know as I have had my oddest experiences trying to cross the border from Lagos to Rep of Benin by car, by okada (yes oh and that wasn't funny at all) and on foot.

As the group embarks on its journey, I wish them easy passage, lots of fun and encounters but most of all I wish them God's Blessings throughout the trip. Oh and some even more interesting pictures than the last time. I know you can all do something extraordinary.

Accompany them through www.invisible-borders.blogspot.com

Independent Curators International (ICI) initiate their travelling conversation series with Independent curator and CCA,Lagos director Bisi Silva

2010-04-22T05:00:00.001+01:00

Independent Curators International is on the move throughout the United States. ICI has organized a traveling conversation series with Nigerian curator Bisi Silva taking place next month in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Texas.

April 29–May 12, 2010

The Curator’s Perspective with Bisi Silva will be moderated by ICI’s executive director Kate Fowle at the New Museum on May 9, 4–6 pm.

Independent Curators International has developed its first touring curatorial conversation with Bisi Silva, the founder/director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria. ICI’s program marks the first time that Silva will speak in the U.S., introducing diverse new audiences to her rich and vital practice. The conversation series will explore the growing impact of transnational practice, using Silva’s extensive curatorial experiences across Africa, Asia, and Europe as a starting point for discussion. Through the series, Silva will address the potential for new dynamic forms of exhibition-making and cultural exchange and present her research on artists, as well as respond to questions posed on the subjects of the expansion of curatorial networks and emerging collaborative institutional models around the world.

Throughout May 2010 Silva will participate in a series of public lectures, panel discussions, and conversations across the U.S. Hosting collaborators include Converge Curators Forum, NEXT Art Fair (Chicago, IL); MoCADA (Brooklyn, NY); Museum for African Art (New York, NY); Newark Museum (NJ); New Museum (New York, NY); and The Menil Collection (Houston, TX).

About Bisi Silva

Bisi Silva is an independent curator and the founder/director of the Center for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos), which opened in December 2007. She was co-curator of the 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece, Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty (September 2009), as well as Maputo: A tale of One City (February 2009). In 2008 she was co-selector with Portuguese curator Isabel Carlos for the international Artists’ Prize, Artes Mundi 3. In 2007 Silva co-curated Contact Zone: Contemporary Art from West and North Africa at the National Museum of Mali, as well asTelling… Contemporary Finnish photography at the 7th African photography biennale in Bamako. As director of CCA, Lagos, she has curated Fela, Ghariokwu Lemi and The Art of the Album Cover(2007); Ndidi Dike, Waka-into-bondage:The Last ¾ Mile (2008) and George Osodi, Paradise Lost: Revisiting the Niger Delta (2008) as well as ‘Like A Virgin...’, Lucy Azubuike (NIG) and Zanele Muholi (SA) (2009). In 2006 Silva co-curated the Dakar Biennale in Senegal.

Learn more about ICI's traveling conversation series with Bisi Silva here and other ICI programmes

Art Photography Workshop at CCA,Lagos with Pinar Yolacan 21-23 April 2010

2010-04-20T00:27:00.002+01:00

3 day Art Photography Workshop

Wed 21^st - Fri 23^rd April 2010, 10am -5pm

To coincide with New York based, Turkey artist Pinar Yolaçan’s Maria series photography exhibition, CCA,Lagos will be hosting a three day workshop art photography workshop in which the artist will guide participants in conceiving and/or and realizing work(s) that will go on to be exhibited within the CCA,Lagos library space as part of our Fashion, Art and Identity series.

Workshop Content

The workshop will take as the starting point the methodology used by Pinar Yolaçan to create her conceptual photographic works using clothing and its representation through image. During the workshop Pinar will

Do a presentation of her work and the narrative that underpins the work.
Discuss her research strategies and methodology highlighting the way to maximum resources available such as internet, fabric stores, libraries, magazines etc.
Highlight aspects such as casting, location, props
Carry out hands-on lesson to developing ideas based around art, fashion and identity.
The results will be developed and form part of an display at the CCA,Lagos library.

Please bring an item of clothing which will form part of your prop

COURSE FEE: N5000 (five thousand naira only)

For more information please contact Oyinda Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104,

SPACES ARE LIMITIED SPACES ARE LIMITIED SPACES ARE LIMITIED

As part of the 3 day workshop, portfolio reviews will take place for workshop participants allowing them to receive objective professional curatorial, critical and artistic feedback.

This will consist of

30 minutes one to one session with each reviewer.
Artists' presentation of a body of work and/or work in progress
Critical feedback with advice on research, methodology and on presentation skills.
Feedback and advice on new possibilities and ways in which the work may be developed.

Reviewers

Bisi Silva, Independent curator, writer and director of CCA,Lagos
Pinar Yolacan, Conceptual artist working with the media of photography. Current exhibition at CCA,Lagos 17th April - 28th May 2010
Antawan Byrd, Art Historian and Writer. Currently US Fulbright Fellow 2009/10 and Curatorial Assistant at CCA,Lagos

Artists' Talk Saturday 24^th April 3pm

Our established P.A.G.E.S event which invites artists and writers to discuss work from our exhibitions will be held on the 24^th April 2010, featuring a panel that includes; designer Deola Sagoe and writer Odili Ojubuonu in conversation with the artist Pinar Yolaçan. The event will start at 3pm prompt and be followed by light refreshments.

Pinar Yolacan ‘Maria’ has been presented at CCA,Lagos with the support of Arts Collaboratory

Opening of Pinar Yolacan's exhibition at CCA,Lagos on 17th April 2010

2010-04-19T22:57:00.007+01:00

(Left) Artists Ato Arinze, Jude Anogwih, (middle) Pinar Yolacan
and Iria Ojeikere, (right) Padma Ugbabe

Guests at the opening of the exhibition. Arch. Kitoye Akinsan-Ibare

Exhibition Organiser Oyinda Fakeye, Artist Pinar Yolacan and CCA,Lagos director Bisi Silva

Artist Pinar Yolacan in front of one of her work.

Pinar Yolacan's photographic series 'Maria' opens at CCA,Lagos today

2010-04-17T10:17:00.002+01:00

CCA,Lagos is pleased to present the work of Turkish Artist Pinar Yolaçan's 'Maria' series

2010-04-14T05:40:00.010+01:00

Pinar Yolaçan ‘Maria’

17th April – 28th of May 2010

“When you put on the clothes of another culture, it changes how you stand,

how you feel, the gestures you make.” Pinar Yolaçan

As part of the year long focus on Photography and Art, Fashion and Identity, CCA,Lagos is pleased to present Turkish artist Pinar Yolaçan’s critically acclaimed series “Maria”, (2007) a stunning collection of 12 stunning life size portrait photographs of African-Brazilian women emerging from stark black backgrounds. Taken over a twelve month period in Itapurica, Bahia, Brazil, Yolaçan’s images are evocative of Old Master portraits, possessing the psychological and emotional immediacy of the Romantic genre. In this series the artist subverts regality by dressing her sitters in elaborate hand sewn couture costumes with trimmings of ‘unusual’ materials such as velvet, satin, tripe, placenta and sheep’s testicles. Through this series Yolaçan engages with issues of beauty, the body, colonialism, and death as a way of broaching the “impermanence of things.”

Artist Bio

Pinar Yolaçan was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1981. She attended London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Chelsea School of Art and Design, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Cooper Union in New York City. She has participated in several international exhibitions including most recently Dress Codes, the 3rd ICP Triennal of Photography, International Centre for Photography, New York, (2009), Tracking Traces KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, (2009) In the light of Play CCA,Lagos at Durban Art Gallery, Durban, and 2nd Johannesburg Art Fair, South Africa (2009), Turkish Realities: Positions in Contemporary Photography from Turkey, Fotografie Forum International Frankfurt, Germany (2008). She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and Istanbul, Turkey.

Organised by Oyinda Fakeye, CCA,Lagos Art Project Co-Ordinator

The exhibition launches with a light reception at the CCA,Lagos gallery space on Saturday 17^th April, where press and guests will be invited to view the works and meet with the artist Pinar Yolaçan on her first visit to Lagos.

Exhibition Programme

3 day Art Photography Workshop 21st - 23rd April 10am -5pm

To coincide with the programme CCA,Lagos will be hosting a three day workshop art photography workshop in which artist Pinar Yolaçanwill guide participants in conceiving and realizing work(s) that will go on to be displayed within the CCA,Lagos library space as part of the Fashion, Art and Identity series. The workshop will take place from the 21st - 23rd April, 2010. For more information please contact Oyinda Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104, spaces are limited.

Artists Talk Saturday 24^th April 3pm

Our established P.A.G.E.S event which invites artists and writers to discuss work from our exhibitions will be held on the 24^th April 2010, featuring a panel that includes; designer Deola Sagoe and writer Odili Ojubuonu in conversation with the artist Pinar Yolaçan. The event will start at 3pm prompt and be followed by light refreshments.

More Information

For More information please contact Oyinda Fakeye at info@ccalagos.org or on 07055680104.

Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question by Artist, Peju Layiwola

2010-04-07T06:15:00.002+01:00

Featuring a colloquium and a Travelling Art Exhibition by Peju Layiwola
Date: 8 April-30 May, 2010
Time: 2pm
Colloquium starts at 2.00pm, Exhibition opens at 5pm on the 8th of April
Venue: Main Auditorium Gallery, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

The artist-scholar, Peju Layiwola, a Lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos will be showing her recent works in a solo exhibition entitled Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question at the Main Auditorium gallery of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. The exhibition will be declared open by HRH, Prince Edun Akenzua, the Enogie of Obazuwa. This exhibition comes up to mark the 50th year anniversary of Nigeria.

Make it a date.

CCA,Lagos at Johannesburg Art Fair 26th - 28th March 2010

2010-03-20T20:30:00.001Z

Nairobi-Lagos-Nairobi...

2010-03-05T22:26:00.003Z

It has always been my dream to travel to Africa’s west and when the opportunity to come to Lagos availed itself, I seized it with both hands. My flight was uneventful, my passage through immigration & customs easy and as I walked out of Murtala Muhammed Airport’s doors into Nigeria, I was greeted by temperatures I presumed to be 40 degrees.

The first week was a typical “Get into a new environment and find your way around week.” Got my bearings from the hotel to CCA, to Chefvys, Yaba & then to Victoria Island and it was then time to dive into the mechanisms of CCA with an emphasis on the ongoing photography residency titled “On Independence & the Ambivalence of Promise”

Unlike other residencies I’ve had the opportunity to attend, this was different. It was at first difficult for me to understand but slowly I got to grasp the concept. This had an intellectual edge; we’d come in and just talk, do presentations, see other artists’ works and look at photographs critically and by the time the participants went out to take images, they really knew how to and why.

The most interesting activities for me was the research participants had to do on other artists as well as the presentations done by visiting artists and curators/critics. All were quite insightful but two will stay with me for a long time. Senam Okuzdeto’s “Ghana Must Go: Personal Narratives, Identity & Identification” and Tam Fiofori’s “History, Culture & Photography in Nigeria” with emphasis on 19^thC Nigerian photographer J.A Green were truly a breath of fresh air.

The residency also set up a platform for lots of conversations amongst the participants be it at Bogobiri, Chefvys, the White House, the Shrine or anywhere else the participants assembled after hours. The friendships we formed and the endless conversations I had with Bisi, Jude, Jelili, Richardson, Gloria, Heta, Jide, Tam, Bode, Landry, Sabelo, Uche, Marja, Chidi… have left me more informed, enlightened and more equipped to live and practice in this century.

On a lighter note, the dinner party at Bisi’s was slamming. The food was probably the best I’d had in Lagos, got to meet Nigerian artists outside the residency and it was really cool dancing with guys we always relate to on super-formal levels.

Looking back, I believe what I brought back to Kenya far outweigh what I came with to Nigeria and thanks to the CCA Lagos family; Bisi, Antawan, Oyinda, Jude, Kemi & Gloria for what you’re doing for the arts in Africa.

Thom Ogonga is a artist and works with Kuona Trust, Nairobi. He was in Lagos on a Knowledge and Skills sharing residency at CCA,Lagos