A couple of weeks ago I went to Lagos, Nigeria to attend the Lagos Photo Festival. I had been to Bamako several times, had found the quality pretty consistent but the event felt quite formal and isolated from mainstream Bamako. So this year I decided to go and check out the Lagos Photo Festival.

I had heard lots of good things about Azu Nwagbogu, the founder and director of the African Artists’ Foundation and the director of Lagos Photo and I had met Cristina De Middel, the curator of the Festival’s sixth edition Designing Futures. Her background is photojournalism but she moved to art photography with her Afronauts series, a fantastic project full of imagination. Both of them and the small organizational team worked around the clock to put this together.

My preconceptions of Lagos were shaped in part by my readings of Nigerian novels, the press and by a few friends who had visited Lagos. In short I was a bit apprehensive when I landed at the airport, which was in a terrible state of disrepair and did nothing to make me feel at ease. However, when I arrived at the Eko hotel on Victoria Island and met up with the Lagos Festival team and other attendees (mostly photographers and photography editors) I quickly relaxed. I was assured that getting around was not a problem beyond the issue of terrible traffic; Uber was alive and doing well in Lagos and anyway I was to tag along with all them whenever I wished. Their enthusiasm for the place was uplifting and I was getting back in touch with my adventurous spirit!

I was mysteriously upgraded to the side building and checked into my room, which had a great view of the Kuramo Lagoon. I could see in the distance a long line of tankers waiting to unload their gasoil. Nigeria while being rich in oil reserves does not refine therefore needs to import gasoline. Closer to the hotel new constructions sites were sprouting along a recently created sandbank. Indeed the demand for new luxury housing here is such that land is being reclaimed from the sea. As I was driven around by delightful Alex the following day I could see a helter kilter mix of old crumbling buildings, new construction sites and abandoned ones because of a lack of funds mid project.

At the hotel the day of the opening of the Lagos Festival there was quite a buzz. At first I thought it was for the art show since it was to take place at the hotel but the level of armed men, preparations (rugs rolled out) and dignitaries seemed a bit excessive. In fact the mayor of Lagos was celebrating his 80^th birthday and was expecting 3000 guests through out the afternoon and evening! It was quite fun and a treat to watch the women and men arriving all decked up in their sartorial traditional elegance. Walking through the wall of security men was a bit unnerving but after all these years in Africa I could handle it.

The Festival opened that night with the first exhibition of the Festival. In contrast to Bamako Biennale this festival includes a mix of local and international photographers with a common theme: Africa. The idea behind the festival is to encourage a discourse about photography in Africa through exhibitions and workshops while engaging the broader public from Lagos by having a good many outdoor exhibitions in public spaces.

I liked this focus on the local community, this commitment to introducing and expanding the role of photography locally while aiming to encourage quality work. With little governmental support it achieves a lot in an African way. By that I mean that there were a few mishaps in the beginning but we all took them in stride and kept our sense humor.

This year’s focus was on constructed realities with the photographer’s imagination as the main driver . In other words the photographer instead turns to fictional narratives to express his view of the world instead of reporting on events or documenting”reality” directly. The approach as a result was more conceptual. The results were mixed but I think it is an area to keep pushing.

I attended a couple of the panels where some of the photographers talked about their work and witnessed curator Simon Njami challenge the photographers by reminding them that they are photographers first and story tellers second. There was a tendency from the artists to talk little about the making of the photograph and more about the underlying story which is something I have witnessed all too often in contemporary African (though not exclusively) art. A worthy cause does not automatically make for good art!

I was there with the Paris photography editor of the New York Times and her sister, the founder of an artist residency in New York and we all exchanged ideas with the photographers about their work. Part inquiry, part critique, it was a valuable exchange for all it seems.

The opening was well attended mostly by a young local community, which was great to see!

Here are some of the works that were on display.

Pantsula by Chris Saunders from South Africa. This series sets out to document this South African predominant township subculture. It is a mindset and lifestyle and is expressed through language, music, dress code and a narrative dance form.

Unomgcana by Nobukho Nqaba from South Africa. Those plastic mesh bags have become a global symbol of migration across borders but also within countries. Though overwhelmed by these bags she keeps her poise! Amazing.

Prophecy by Belgian-Beninese Fabrice Monteiro, which addresses the terrible destruction of our environment. His work has been shown in many places but what I liked here was the inclusion of  a video on his process, which was fascinating. We see the costumes being made, the model on stilts putting it on and we witness the dealings with the local community where the scenes get shot, and who are not always welcoming.

My Lagos by Robin Hammond from New Zealand. These are stills from a multivideo project for National Geographic. Hammond walked the streets of Lagos and gives a glimpse of the diversity of characters and life in Lagos.

Awoulaba by Joana Choumali from Cote d’Ivoire where she explores the complex notion of femininity, beauty and body image in contemporary African society. Display mannequins are increasingly customized to reflect a local aesthetic and body form.

This particular series inspired us to pose for our own version of the subject…

We were on our way to the Chinese Market the next day – it took for ever as the van was going 10 miles per hour – and arrived to find out it was closed! So always ready to improvise the photographers in the group started to take snapshots of the place and we, the non professionals, became a bit goofy: this is the result!

From there we went to the POPCAP’15’s (the Piclet.org prize for African contemporary African photography) installation at the Yuba university which was fantastic. Hung outdoors in the midst of the university it was a dramatic installation. Students were milling around curious as to what was going on. I got to know a bit more about PopCap and they are doing a superb job. They got about 700 submissions from 58 countries. After a selection process the frontrunners are reviewed by a panel of “judges”, a group of curators, publishers, artists, and directors of galleries of important photography organizations. The finalists and their work becomes the subject of an exhibition that tours Africa and beyond.

Interior Landscapes by Filipe Branquinho from Mozambique.

Jua Kali by Tahir Carl Karmali from Kenya

Ultramar (Empire Travel Club) by Romaric Tisserand from France. This was pretty strong work and disturbing. The artist found 6 rolls of negatives buried in the ground in Lisbon of portraits of young Africans and soldiers from another time. He appropriates the images, merges past and present, and reframes history.

An exhibition at the Omeka gallery showed a selection from the New York Times ‘Lens’ blog curated by Whitney Richardson, producer of the New York Times Lens blog. Check out the photographers work, most of them are photojournalists and take you to places you have never been.

Inserted in this exhibition ( why? nobody knows but that did not worry anyone) was the work of James Ostrer. Take a close look it is all made of sweets and cream pastry! Amazing and James was super cool.

The last day I stopped at the Alara store, which was designed by David Adjaye and caters to the African woman who likes color, drama, and adornment says owner Reni Folawiyo.

A last stop at the African Artists’ Foundation where we witnessed a photography class.

It took more almost three hours to get to the airport. It can take as long as four actually on a bad day, which is everyday. On a very good day it takes 45 minutes!

Once I got home I realized I had left too soon as many more exhibitions, some in public spaces, opened after my departure. Some had been scheduled to open earlier but hadn’t. It is a good thing to remember that one often needs time when in Africa. Being in a rush does not pay off.

Finally I had a nice chat with a local handsome businessman who wanted to switch from the oil business to a consumer product base project. I asked him if he bought art to hang on his walls. His response was “ it is too expensive” to which I said that photography could be a good place to start but obviously only if the dealers don’t price out the middleclass person on the African continent!

This is what I came home with!

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We landed in Joburg at the crack of dawn after a 15 hours flight, which while long was stress free! Listening to some of the other people we met up with at Joburg who had taken at least 24 hours to get there our journey looked like a piece of cake! This was the first time I was taking my boyfriend to Joburg so I was making sure to limit the hurdles. We met up with Diane and Chuck Frankel who were there with members of the Getty photography council. Diane was introducing them to the Joburg art scene. It is good to know that the Getty is interested in exploring the work of photographers from the African continent!

The next few days were filled with art visits much of them organized by Diane.

While Joburg can seem miles away from everything some of the main galleries there are showing artists that have a worldwide presence.

We stopped at the Goodman gallery on Jan Smutts avenue to see Liza Lou’s beautiful new exhibition called Canvas. Liza Lou is a California American artist who became known for her beaded life –size replica of a suburban kitchen.  She subsequently moved to Durban, South Africa where she is producing a body of work, which is more minimalist. The surface of the “painting” is the subject of this exhibition.  Liza’s works are made solely out of beads. Local Zulu women weave bands of identical off-white beads that Liza provides for them. She then sows the bands together in a unique pattern that integrates the ruptures, pockmarks, and streaks that stain the surface of the bands and are the marks of the weavers’ lives. The resulting “canvases” inspire a quiet and meditative response much like Rothko’s dark canvases in the Rothko chapel. To fully take the effect in I had to sit down and let my eyes slowly adjust so that I could became aware of all the nuances of color in these monochromatic works. Indeed her beaded canvases call for slowing down, taking in the moment, letting things unfold gradually, and challenges one to sit with oneself. There is no big bang or wow. The beauty lies in the holding of the image and gradually feeling whole.

Her more recent work shows her loosening up her grip and letting in a tiny bit of mayhem in her structured design. I loved that piece too.

That evening David Brodie gave us a tour of Serge Alain Nitegeka show at Michael Stevenson gallery. At the entrance of the gallery I ran into Nandipha Mntambo looking FABULOUS. Wearing her hair long and braided she had totally changed style and was presenting a more feminine version of herself. Wearing muted make up, sheathed in a slim-fitting dress and perched on high heels she exuded happiness and confidence. She was just as thrilled to see Diane and I. We had not seen her since our time together last fall in San Francisco.

We then all made our way through the first room of the gallery, which had been reduced to a narrow pathway. Nitegeka had carved out the space with big black sheets of cardboard restricting our space and movements, in other words constricting our freedom. I felt constricted and aware of trying to keep my balance as I walked through the narrow path. Nitegeka considers himself a sculptor of objects and of space and is well known for his installations. However this particular exhibition Into the Black included mostly of painted wooden panels.  It was clear from the geometric forms painted on crates that space was a major concern.

The most powerful piece to me here was the triptych in the second room. Broad black diagonals defined the surface plane while also obstructing our view of the fictive space in the “painting”.  The black bands become obstacles in the path of the indeterminate figures trying to make their way through a fictive space behind the bands. I felt a sense of constrictive power as well as a feeling of struggle. At once abstract and figurative the triptych conveys in formal terms the anguish and struggle of the migrant.

A tall, handsome and elegantly dressed young man, Serge spoke to us about his work. While his concerns here are the exploration of formal and philosophical blackness he speaks also of his experience of escaping the terrible situation in Burundi and moving to South Africa and of the challenges he encountered along the way. I did not like everything I saw but the caliber of the work and his ability to convey through formal means his experience without being literal is impressive and very effective. He also shows at Marianne Boesky in the USA.

Later that evening during a casual dinner at a local haunt I had a wonderful talk with a very smart and talented young artist who works mostly with photography: Mame-Diarra Niang. I checked out her work, which is being shown this month at the Stevenson gallery in Cape Town and I liked it. Creating mostly urban landscapes Mame is expressing her dismay at how much certain places she has known in Africa while she was growing up are losing their specificity and flavor and becoming sterile.  Her views become abstract spaces and instead of transporting us into another world we are lead to look back into oneself.

On the photography front, my main focus, we met Jodi Bieber who came to talk to us at the Goodman Gallery about her work and in particular her latest series: Real Beauty and Quiet and Soweto. Real Beauty and Quiet are series of portraits of anonymous people who agreed to pose in their homes. In Real Beauty the women pose in their underwear and chose the setting. Here Jodi is challenging the media’s idea of what is real beauty by capturing on camera the pride of these multi shaped women from all age groups.

In Quiet she aims to give us an alternative view of masculinity: the men she photographs are posing in moments of vulnerability.

In Soweto she captures on her camera how life really is in the township of Soweto; not the image of a poor community riddled with violence but of a town where people from all walks of life, rich and poor, live, work and play well beyond the township’s history of struggle with apartheid. I could remember my first time in Soweto arriving with my own preconceived notion and being surprised to see the variety of housing ranging from rudimentary housing to spacious mansions with gardens.

Diane arranged for us to make a quick stop at the fashion designer Marianne Fassler’s home and shop. Marianne is a hoot and her very personal collection of South African art is an expression of her temperament: eclectic, colorful, fun, adventurous. She collects with her husband but he acknowledges that he mostly differs to her taste, as she is the creative one!

No minimalism here; instead there is a focus on crafts, imagination, color, and shapes. We left with big smiles on our faces. Her fun loving, inclusive and generous nature was such a booster!

This was a lead up to the Joburg fair, which was a bustling affair, at least the night of the opening. It was good to see a lot of youngish South African looking to buy art and being quite involved with the dealers. Portia Zvavahera was the star of the fair having won the 2014 FNB Art Prize. A young painter from Zimbabwe Portia lives in Harare and is a mother and a wife when she is not painting. Her expressionist canvases which combine textile-like printed patterns with an almost child like way of painting, are inspired by her dreams and speak of her experience with marriage, childbirth and parental love.

Her figures brightly clad are set against richly colored backgrounds. They consistently adopt postures that convey deep emotion tempered in a way by the child like way of painting, which allows us some detachment to what is being depicted and witnessed. Portia clearly loves color and I very much like the way she incorporates those decorative patterns with the otherwise loose wash.

William Kentridge was signing his latest book – 2^nd Hand Reading – at the Goodman gallery.  Each typed page has one of his many drawings printed on it. I bought a copy since I am into buying artist books these days! Much cheaper than buying an original of each!

While waiting for my book I lingered in front of Kuzanai Chiurai’s photograph called Moyo. An absolutely stunning picture it brings up in me a mix of emotion. I felt mesmerized by the deep sorrow and accusation inherent in the young woman’s gaze and deeply moved, yet the bleeding corpse made me at the same time slightly recoil. A beautiful young woman holds the bleeding body of a young man. The formal composition references the classical composition of the Pieta but here the scene is set in a lush jungle and lit by an artificial light that suggest divine lighting. This image comes from his film Moyo and makes reference to the public acts of violence and in particular the Marikana strike: the wildcat strike in the South African Leonmin mine which resulted in many workers death. The title means Air and the image captures the moment in death when the air or spirit leaves the body. He incites the viewers to mourn.

Chiurai, born and raised in Zimbabwe experienced first hand the violence of the Mugabe regime. Now living and working in South Africa his mixed media work tackles the political and social issues that concern his world.

I love this other image, which is part of a body of work called The State of the Nation. In highly theatrical and provocative images he critiques the corrupt ways African revolutionary leaders have dealt with their newfound powers. Intent in sparking a conversation with the African youth in their context he creates images that are dark and brash in their imagery and humor.

Fighting my way through the crowd – it certainly was not like that two years ago – I stopped at Brundyn + Gonsales to look at Mohau Modisakeng’s new photographs that had been part of a large installation for his debut solo exhibition “Ditaola” at Brundyn + . As with his earlier work, Mohau’s images refer to some mysterious ritual whereby he addresses his concerns with South Africa’s tortuous and violent history and current times while delving into personal memories. In this particular instance it is the memory of his mother recounting her dreams. Mohau has a penchant for the symbolic and the theatrical and in these photographs his body becomes the means by which he constructs narratives that address his personal and political concerns.

Set against a green background wearing a pleated animal skin kilt, he stands like an archetypal warrior holding a gun, a symbol of violence and a dove, symbol of peace. The dove departs spraying white dust and returns in other images. Is this a meditation on the precariousness of peace? I feel I am witnessing a mysterious ritual to which I have only small inklings.

Totally different in tenor and style, I liked also at Brundyn +, Jody Paulsen’s bright and colorful wall hangings and photographs. Paulsen is fascinated with fashion and commodity culture ie: branding, clichés in advertising. He is able to mix quite effectively African and European influences in his eclectic vision. I particularly liked his photographs of figures against patterned fabrics. While they were not portraits they certainly referenced the traditional African Studio portrait now turned into a pop version of itself and hollowed out of its original intent.

I was in the mood for fun obviously that day since my eye and mind got mesmerized with Cristina de Middel installation “The Afronauts”. A body of work that includes photographs, drawings, and sculptures, The Afronauts mixes facts and fiction to tell the story of Zambia’s 1964 space project. Cristina is a half -Spanish, half-Belgian photojournalist turned artist who got inspired by the optimism of this story. It is a refreshing antidote to the troubled image one has of the continent. Following Zambia’s independence in 1964, Edward Makuka Nkoloso, the founder and sole member of Zambia’s National Academy of Science, Space Research initiated a mission to send the first African astronauts to Mars. It came to nothing but I love that Nkoloso believed that he could and even tried! I love this capacity to dream and hope!

I had seen part of the work in Arles the previous year and was thrilled to see it again. This time I talked to the artist, and bought her book.

Walking to the bar to get my glass of rose wine I stopped in shock ( at first) when I saw two sets of couples, naked – two men and two women – each couple holding a mirror between them and moving around the mirror as if in some kind of contest. This dance Ritual Resist was choreographed by artist Kendell Geers.  ” A man and a woman engaged in the martial art of vanity. Neither can see the other and both struggle against their own reflection in a square mirror.” K-G. Why shock? Mainly because I was not expecting this. Many of us obviously were captivated abut some reason no pictures were taken or at least posted anywhere!

I was charmed by Namsa Leuba’s fashion photographs exhibited by LagosPhoto ( part of the festival).  Bright, cheeky, witty and technically brilliant her images focus on African identity perceived by Western eyes. She recontextualises African artifacts to fit a western perspective and in doing so challenges both cultures preconceived ideas of the other.

Another artist to follow is Patrick Willocq whose work was shown at the Arles Photo Festival ( Les Rencontres d’Arles). A few booths were showing his work.

Photography is an important medium in South Africa and particularly in Joburg. The famous photographer David Goldblatt started the Market Photo Workshop in 1989 and artists like Jodi Bieber made their start at the workshop. We went to visit it and met some of the young artists there. See next post.

After four days going around Joburg where one does little walking since it is so spread out I was looking forward to going on many bush walks in Zambia, our next destination. I also needed to hear the sounds of the bush. However I was not relishing a 4 am wake up call to catch a 6:30am flight to Lusaka. The rest of the group stayed in Joburg a few more days before going down to Cape Town for more art viewing.