LagosPhoto Festival opens 27 October – 15 November

The first event of its kind in Nigeria, LagosPhoto Festival is back for its 9th edition this autumn. Themed Time Has Gone, the main festival includes work by 22 artists from around the world who engage with the idea of time in various ways, from issues of archiving to nostalgia to an Afro-based future. Artists featured in the main programme include: Olu Olatunde, who’s from Nigeria; Mary Evans (Nigeria/UK); Alfredo Jaar (Chile); and Emmanuelle Andrianjafy (Madagascar); LagosPhoto has been curated by Eva Barois De Caevel, Wunika Mukan, Charlotte Langhorst, and Valentine Umansky.

In addition other spaces across Lagos will host six other exhibitions during LagosPhoto Festival – with the respected Market Photo Workshop, for example, hosting an exhibition of work by emerging image-makers Dahlia Maubane, Sydelle Willow Smith and Tshepiso Mazibuko. The main festival is based in The Federal Government Press Building on Lagos Island, Lagos, and in outdoor exhibitions in spaces such as Falomo Roundabout, Ikoyi, while the satellite exhibitions and events will take place in institutions such as the African Artists’ Foundation, Omenka Gallery, and Gallery 16/16.

Figures 1856 Geological structure 2017, courtesy of 50 Golborne Alessandroa Casciaro C Gallery Dilecta © Malala Andrialavidrazana

LagosPhoto also includes a special projects programme, which this year includes a mentorship programme for emerging women photographers from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Sierre Leone, and the UK. This workshop is organised by Fast Forward, an international research programme based at University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, UK, and will include academics, photographers, and curators from institutions such as Tate Modern and Centre Pompidou.

In addition, LagosPhoto will include a photography workshop run in partnership with Canon, and a portfolio review run in partnership with National Geographic. The portfolio review was open to photographers from across Africa, and one photographer picked out from it will be awarded $5000.

LagosPhoto Festival takes place from 27 October – 15 November www.lagosphotofestival.com

Josephine Douala, 2017, from the series BitoBaMundi © Charlotte Yonga
Red Fever, 2018 © Adji Dieye
Archival Images © Olu Olatunde
Untitled, from the series No Victor, No Vanquished, 2018 © Chibuike Uzoma
Ruin Two Boys with Flowers, Courtesy of Karl Ohiri Lagos Studio Archives
© Ndidi Dike
Untitled 2016, from the series Nothing’s in Vain © Emmanuelle Andrianjafy
Working, from the series Mars on Earth, 2017 © Cassandra Kloss
Rituals of Becoming, 2017 © Crazinist T
El Kettar Urban, from the series Lost Qibla co-commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation © Amina Menia

 

Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy