On March 6, Ghana’s Independence Day, artist Yaw Owusu was crouched on his living room floor, putting the finishing touches on a new piece. Stretching over most of the floor, the work sparked silver and copper as the sun bounced off the carpet of pesewa coins — the country’s least valuable currency and Owusu’s preferred… Continue reading OZY – The Artist as Alchemist: Turning Coins into Precious Art
Binta Abdullahi had gone through labour a few days before we met but she decided to forfeit some hours of rest to tell me about a lecherous neighbour. The neighbour had been making advances to her teenage daughter, Salamatu* when the girl was enroute evening lessons at her Islamic school. Abdullahi and I met in… Continue reading THISDAY – Young girls in Northern Nigeria are getting empowered in a new way: Picking up the phone
by AYODEJI ROTINWA On September 8th 2015, a sculpture created in memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni 9, a group of environmental activists executed by the Nigerian military government, was seized by the Nigerian Customs Service and has since been in their possession. The sculpture was created by Nigerian-British… Continue reading Newswire NG: Is the Nigerian Customs trying to suppress the memory of the Ogoni 9 executions?
Like other African cities, or the entire continent for that matter - who are victims of the West’s pen, weaponized by half-truths, misconceptions, single stories and unfortunate generalizations – Lagos is a misrepresented little giant. Yes, we are coastal and really should be investing more in water transportation instead of choking our roads with more… Continue reading Lagos is Not Only Yellow Buses and Hours-Long Traffic
AYODEJI ROTINWA and EROMO EGBEJULE profile Damini Ogulu, better known as Burna Boy, the Nigerian entertainment industry’s new bride. As a baby, Damini Ogulu would be asleep in the car while the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, king of Afrobeat went for performances with his manager, the former’s grandfather, Benson Idonije. This was long before Damini grew… Continue reading THISDAY – Burna Boy: A Newfangled Debut
Get ready to bake. It’s hot or humid in Lagos all year round. Not warm. Hot. Only from mid-December to January does the city cool off, when the Harmattan winds bring a plague of dust instead. When you arrive at the airport, have your sunglasses and hat ready. And skip the airport taxis: you’ll have… Continue reading Roads & Kingdoms: 18 Things to Know Before you Go to Lagos
The opening of the debut Nigerian Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale was preceded by a series of unfortunate and unexpected events. The biennale is widely regarded as “the Olympics of visual art”, ergo the biggest art exhibition in the world, where 88 of the globe’s 196 nations are represented.… Continue reading Mail & Guardian: ‘Bring back what was once mine’
Peju Alatise gets what she wants. In so doing, she does not suffer fools, back down from challenges or accept standards other than the ones she sets. I first met her in Italy’s city on the sea, Venice, while she was installing her work as one of the selected artists for Nigeria’s debut at… Continue reading Mail & Guardian: Where there’s an ironclad will, there’s a way for Alatise
"It is only when tires don’t roll on the road, that’s when we don’t make any money,” Oriyomi tells me. We are in an alley of Lagos Island standing on the remains of an abandoned building that was intended to be a bungalow. Iron bars, straight and bent, stick out of the building’s foundation.… Continue reading CNN / Explore Parts Unknown: The Birth of the Agbero: A Toll Collector, A Menace of Lagos
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