FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PASSPORTS
GRAND OPENING. 27th OCT
OPENING WEEK. 28th OCT- 3rd NOV
In the digital world, globalization appears egalitarian and desirable, however, once being a cosmopolitan becomes physical, the inequity of possessing a privileged or non-privileged passport becomes evident. Traveling the world freely, without being a subject of scrutiny or suspicion is still – and maybe more than ever – impossible for a large percentage of the world population, because the "the value" of a passport is measured by calculating its "visa-free score" (VFS). Though globally, we often anticipate the same values, fashions, religions and encounter comparable challenges, irrespective of regions and climate zones, we still live in a narrow and immobile world that prevents fluctuating lifestyles and existences outside of the digital space.
A passport entitles the holder to enter and leave a territory. The most important element, the data page, formally claims to certify our identity based on standardized categories of nationality, gender, and looks. Yet the options available automatically foster stereotypes in terms of sex, race, and credibility. Passports is the theme of the 10th edition of LagosPhoto Festival and it intends to delve into the constraints and prospects of the most important official document a human being owns/holds. This year’s edition aims to bring alive, an alternative global environment in which artists of different nationalities are invited to explore options of creating a fluid and permeable world, where nationality, gender, and historical imbalances are secondary. Through the course of a decade, the festival has proven to be a space where artists can meet on neutral ground to share ideas, innovation, and capacities. Thus, the jubilee edition especially concentrates on the reciprocal energies the festival has experienced in past years and will open the discussion of how we can create a flexible and more egalitarian world within the existing global restrictions.
What are the options of living freely in a world that will be determined by borders? LagosPhoto invites artists to consider the festival platform as a laboratory for ideas and a safe place for experimenting with open forms of identity, creating new categories of an international passport that allows for diversity. What kind of passport could certify and authorize these overarching values? The 10th edition of LagosPhoto will present artists who are able to find answers or sustainable alternatives and who believe in a versatile world that is not based on utopias but routed in the way we already live.
The Curatorial Team
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
Aàdesokan (Nigeria) | Halima Abubakar (Nigeria) | Toluade Adekuoroye (Nigeria) | Isabella Agbaje (Nigeria) | Margaret Agbaje (Nigeria) | Taibat Ajiboye (Nigeria) | Jenevieve Aken (Nigeria) | Fiasco Alexia (France) | AnAkA (USA) | Nelly Ating (Nigeria) | Olayinka Babalola (Nigeria) | Jamil G. Baldwin (America ) | David Baptiste (Haiti) | Magda Biernat (Poland) | Flávio Cardoso (Angola) | Joana Choumali (Ivory coast) | Ella Eduozor (Nigeria) | Vanessa Endeley (Nigeria) | Philip Fagbeyiro (Nigeria) | Rahima Gambo (Nigeria) | Maimouna Guerresi (Italy) | Kelvin Haizel (Ghana) | Dan Halter (Zimbabwe) | Chibueze Hermes Iyele ( Nigeria) | Mahmood Hojeij (Lebanon) | Klein (Nigeria) | Benedicte Kurzen (France) | Mous Lamrabat (Morocco) | Loyiso Mkize (South Africa) | Rubén Martín de Lucas (Spain) | Johnny Miller (South Africa) | William Moore (Nigeria) | Nengi Nelson (Nigeria) | Somi Nwandu (Nigeria) | Chukwuka Nwobi (Nigeria) | Joseph Obanubi (Nigeria) | Daniel Obasi (Nigeria) | Anthony Obayomi (Nigeria) | Eniola Odunuga (Nigeria) | Ife Ofulue (Nigeria) | Uzoma Orji (Nigeria) | Adeolu Osibodu (Nigeria) | Gaelen Pinnock (South Africa) | Tabita Rezaire (France) | Stephen Tayo (Nigeria) | Dustin Thierry (Curacao) | Maya-Ines Touam (France/Algeria) | Sanne de Wilde (Belgium) | Nguher Zaki (Nigeria)
Key Dates
Sunday, October 27th: LagosPhoto Portfolio Review Award
Sunday, October 27th: LagosPhoto Grand Opening Reception ( Federal Government Press Liason Office )
October 27th - November 2nd: LagosPhoto Professional Week
Saturday, November 2nd: LagosPhoto Concert.
A comprehensive programme of receptions, discussions, presentations, and workshops (various locations)
LagosPhoto continues to provide a platform for the improvement and progression of professional and emerging photographic talent in a comprehensive public programming initiative that includes workshops, artist presentations, and portfolio reviews facilitated by prominent local and international photographers.
AFFILIATED PROGRAMS OF EXHIBITIONS
JOINT EXHIBITION WITH PHOTOVOGUE FESTIVAL
The relationship between PhotoVogue and LagosPhoto has been a deep one since the beginning, based on the shared commitment to find and discover new talent, offer support and guidance in developing one’s individual vision and path and, last but not least, give artists visibility and acknowledgment through our platforms. On the basis of those shared goals, and on the occasion of such significant anniversary for LagosPhoto, this year LagosPhoto and PhotoVogue will collaborate on the production of a joint exhibition that will start in Lagos in October ending in Milan in November, showcasing the best production of African and international talents on the chosen themes.
THE NIGERIAN COLLECTIVE (Young curators)
This exhibition is Nigerian based group show curated by four young curators; Princess Ayoola (Nigerian), Ugochukwu Emebiriodo (Nigerian), Marco Bianchessi (Italian) and Arinola Olowokporoku (Nigerian).
WOMEN THROUGH THE LENS INITIATIVE
Women through the Lens’ is a mentorship program in partnership with Culture at Work Africa (A project co-funded by the European Union), conceived to educate and promote women from various communities in Nigeria, through the creative medium of photography.
Over a 9-month period, a group of women are mentored through an analytical photography education framework delivered by an intercultural and international team of female professionals working in the wider photographic field.
Our aim is to give young African women the agency to build alternative career paths in photography, conveying new stories about women, from female perspectives. In addition, ‘Women through the Lens’ effects a revised perception of the role and value of women in our patriarchal society, generating new dialogues on the advancement of gender equality in Nigeria and the wider African continent.
The 10 selected photographers are:
- Ella Eduozor
- Eniola Odunuga
- Halima Abubakar
- Nelly Ating
- Nengi Nelson
- Nguher Zaki
- Taibat Ajiboye
- Toluade
- Vanessa Endeley
- Yinka Babalola
WELLCOME PHOTO PRIZE WINNING IMAGES, AND ARTISTS TALK
The Wellcome Photography Prize (‘the prize’) is a competition run by Wellcome Trust (‘Welcome’), a charity organisation registered in England and Wales.TheWellcomePhotography Prize tells compelling visual stories at the front line of health, medicine, and science. This selection from the 2019 shortlist showcases the work of the talented finalists giving their distinctive views on health challenges in Africa. These selection of work will be showcased during LagosPhoto 2019 as a part of its affiliated programs.
PORTRAIT OF HUMANITY WINNING IMAGES
Portrait of humanity is a new global initiative by 1854 Media, publisher of British Journal of Photography. Portrait of humanity serves as a timely reminder that despite our many differences, we are able to unite as a global community through the power of photography to create one of the greatest photography exhibitions in history. The 50 winning selection of thought and emotion provoking works from this year will be exhibited at LagosPhoto 2019.
PROJECTION SLIDELUCK EDITORIAL
Although the canonical place for love to be practiced would be the family and the so-called "maternal love", society has gone through multiple transformations over time. These changes have implications on the way love is expressed but haven’t changed the need for love, on a basic, essential level. By assuming the importance of love in our lives, we’d like also, on the other side of the spectrum, reflect on the ramifications of the deprivation of this fundamental human need and the consequences of it in many areas of our lives, privately and collectively. The meaning of ‘tender’ in this call, refers in general to the condition of being vulnerable. So, if love really drives many decisions and affects deeply our lives, either from a personal or a social and collective standpoint, ours would like to be an invite to take care of the unprotected and fragile, physically or emotionally, which need protection, attention, and affection, as a way to generate circular love.
MUSIC BY EMEKA OGBOH
Emeka Ogboh is a Nigerian sound and installation artist best known for his soundscapes of life in Lagos. Trained as an artist, he began working with sounds that characterize cites following an Egyptian multimedia art program. Emeka will bring his unmatched sound to the stage of LagosPhoto events this year.
DANCE PERFORMANCE BY HERMES IYELE
Path is a journey in the movement of/to self-discovery, reinventing what is from what was. Questioning history, religion, believes in reference to acceptance with a focus on vulnerability. Deconstructing the old to form a new. the piece will address the war within, the world on the outside, the subconscious pain of denial, the grace of acceptance, and the peace of completion. This beautiful dance will be showcased at LagosPhoto 2019.
MONOLOGUE PERFORMANCE BY WILLIAM IFEANYI MOORE
The play titled Poet By the Bottle follows the thoughts of a drunk poet as he tries to get to sleep but is constantly interrupted by Nigerian and existential problems. The play tries to cover some issues like politics, religion, parental expectations, colonisation, and other such issues. Much like the works of Simon Beckett, this play in mostly theme focused, experimental, and loose on plot, though not at all void of narrative structure. This play will be showcased at LagosPhoto 2019.
PARTNERSHIPS
Canon Central and North Africa, Culture at Work, Tecno, Wellcome Trust, Unseen Foundation, British Journal of Photography
Main Venue
Federal Government Press Liason Office, Lagos. (9 Broad St, Lagos Island, Lagos).
African Artists’ Foundation, Victoria Island (3b Isiola Oyekan Close off Adeleke Adedoyin, Victoria Island, Lagos)
Omenka Gallery, Ikoyi. ( 24 Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi)
Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi. ( 9 Osborne Rd, Ikoyi, Lagos)
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