In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Pierre-Christophe Gam, Remi Into The Wild from the series The Affogbolos, 2014 LagosPhoto Festival, Nigeria's month-long international photography showcase, is putting the factual on the back burner. With this year's theme, "Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction," organizers are highlighting provocative conceptual and performative works that speak to life in Africa today.
"Too often there's a documentary or photojournalistic approach that gets prescribed to stories from Africa," says co-curator Joseph Gergel. "It's exciting to see artists that are working in a different realm as well."
By Allyssia Alleyne, for CNN
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Hans Wilschut, from the series Lagos (Iyana Ipaja), 2014In past years, LagosPhoto has focused on the hidden and quotidian parts of African life, as well as the continent's ongoing development. The hope is that the more experimental works showcased this year will counteract the stereotypical images of Africa that have proven difficult to shake.
"There's this afro-pessimistic portrayal that we've all become accustomed to in the media representation of Africa as a continent of poverty, of suffering, of conflict, and a lot of these artists in this festival are looking at how photography relates to how Africa is represented, and trying to provide an alternative or counter narrative."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Karl Ohiri and Riikka Kassinen, The Medicine Man: I''ll Take Care of You, 2013When deciding which photographers to feature, LagosPhoto organizers were particularly drawn to those exploring self-portraiture. "They're becoming actors in front of the camera and looking at how they define themselves as artists, as Nigerians and as Africans."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Edson Chagas, from the series Oikonomos, 2011 Gergel is particularly excited by a series from Edson Chagas, who helped Angola win the prestigious Golden Lion for best national pavilion at last year's Venice Biennale. Oikonomos, which shows the artist with different plastic bags over his head, resonated with Gergel because of its focus on the "connection between consumerism on a global scale."
"He's commenting on global consumerism and how it relates to him in an African context ... He's constricted by it, he's being suffocated by it."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Jenevieve Aken, from the series The Masked Woman, 2014 He also cites Nigerian model-turned-photographer Jenevieve Aken's The Masked Woman series as a prime example of the daring self-portraiture his team was drawn to. The series, which has been met with controversy in Nigeria, shows a masked Aken posed around a house, often nude.
"She's really trying to question gender roles in Nigerian society, and the constricting roles that women sometimes face (that affect) their freedoms and their choices."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Mary Sibande, Her Majesty, Queen Sophie, 2010 "We're also looking at how artists explore the fictional artistic photographic archives, looking at the way that historical images and vernacular images are used on a more contemporary basis," Gergel says. Mary Sibande's Long Live the Dead Queen series, for example, juxtaposes Victorian finery and maid uniforms to comment on feminine identity in post-apartheid South Africa.
"In many ways, recontextualizing that type of imagery puts it into a new conversation."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Nicolas Henry, from the series Tales from the World, ongoingThough many of the photographers featured are African, LagosPhoto has always included non-African photographers as well. However, organizers are careful to only select those who immerse themselves in the countries they're documenting instead of just visiting briefly to shoot a project.
"They're actually staging theatrical productions, and using the local community as actors to participate in the construction of the image. It's very much a give and take, and they both learn a lot from the process."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Cristina de Middel, from the series This is What Hatred Did, 2014Spanish photographer Christina De Middel, whose The Afronauts series about a failed Zambian space program was featured in last year's festival, spent six months in Nigeria working on this year's exhibition. In This is What Hatred Did, the Nigerian novel My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola is reset in present-day Makoko, a historic fishing village on stilts. "She worked in the community, with people in the community to stage these narratives again."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Namsa Leuba, from the series Cocktail, 2011 Though the festival has only just started, Gergel believes he's already seen the impact of this year's theme. He remembers being pleasantly surprised last week when he asked a student at LagosPhoto Summer School, a workshop run by the festival's organizers, what sort of work he wanted to create.
"He said self-portraiture and constructed narratives," Gergel says. "When we start to show these new kinds of narratives and ways of approaching photography, it's exciting because it inspires this younger group of people."
In Nigeria, photography goes fantastical —
Abraham Oghobase, Untitled, 2012But LagosPhoto's wider goal remains to help unify and grow the local photography community. "Five years ago, there were many exciting things happening in photography (in Lagos), but they were very dispersed," Gergel says. "The community was already there, it just needed somehow to form in a cohesive way, and I think that's the success of LagosPhoto."
LagosPhoto Festival runs from 25 October to 26 November 2014.
