IT IS NOT UNUSUAL to be moved by the ocean, stirred by frothy swells of salt water rolling onto the sand and withdrawing in perpetuity. Still, I did not expect to tear up looking at a photograph of the ocean on the second floor of New York’s Museum of Modern Art on a rainy Wednesday afternoon.… Continue reading Nigeria in focus at MoMA’s “New Photography 2023”
On 25 February, Nigerian voters went to the polls to elect a new president. But will the election mark a moment of transformation for Nigeria’s museums? Stakeholders in Nigeria’s cultural sector are unsure. Many think the general election has served to encapsulate how far behind the Nigerian state remains in comparison to the country’s private… Continue reading The Art Newspaper: After a landmark election, will Nigeria now invest in its museums?
After his father had two strokes and his mother was diagnosed with high blood sugar, Ebi Ofrey had an epiphany: with vigilant healthcare, both events could have been avoided. But in Nigeria, there are very few health services dedicated to taking care of the elderly and health insurance coverage – both private and government-run –… Continue reading How the pandemic kickstarted a health tech renaissance in Nigeria
LAST MONTH, when Benin’s Palais de la Marina in Cotonou opened its doors, a belated history class swung into session. Organized by the president’s office and titled “Benin Art from Yesterday to Today, from Restitution to Revelation,” the exhibition paired work by thirty-four contemporary Beninese artists with a trove of twenty-six royal objects pillaged by the… Continue reading Artforum: Kingdom Comeback – the spectacular return of Benin’s looted art
Last Monday in Paris, auction house Christie’s proceeded with the sale of two Nigerian artefacts in the face of public outcry over their suspicious provenance. As art historian Chika Okeke-Agulu noted in a 21 June article for The Guardian, the pair of sacred Igbo sculptures, known as Alusi, were likely stolen from Nigeria during its civil war… Continue reading Frieze: To Stop Auction of Looted Art, International Law Must Change
Charly Boy decided he would wear rouge. It was the 1970s, the height of the sexual revolution in the West, so it wasn’t unusual for men to be seen in makeup. But for a young student in the United States coming from a small town in Nigeria, dressing in ways that drew attention to himself… Continue reading New York Times: What It Means to Dress in Lagos
For ‘Symphonie au Kente’ (Symphony of Kente), Abdoulaye Konaté has merged two rich, long-standing textile traditions from Ghana and his native Mali. This is an unlikely pairing: although located in the same region, the two nations do not share a language or a political system, and travel between both countries often requires patience with knotty… Continue reading Frieze: How Abdoulaye Konaté Knits Together West African Cultural Heritage
The first time Omar Viktor Diop had to sit for a studio portrait, it did not go well. It was his first year in an all-boys primary Catholic school in Dakar and the school had arranged for all students to be photographed. Diop remembers it well: the photographer set up a grey fabric as a… Continue reading Harper’s Bazaar Arabia ART: On Omar Viktor Diop
On February 18, 1977, a black Range Rover sped through the open gates into Kalakuta Republic, No 14. Agege Motor Road, Idi-Oro, Mushin – the home of Afrobeat legend, and one of the most successful African musicians of the 20th century, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti .One of Fela’s assistants, Roy Smith, who had been driving the Range… Continue reading The Guardian: Loving Fela, a tale of two Kalakuta queens
Credit: Joseph Okpako/WireImage When ClassiQ, a singer and rapper born in Bauchi state, wanted to connect old Hausa music from northern Nigeria to his contemporary sound, he bought an MP3 player. He loaded on about 400 songs by Hausa music legends such as Mamman Shata, Alhaji Musa Dankwairo and Dan Maraya Jos. ClassiQ listened to… Continue reading Financial Times: Nigerian musicians inspired by deep cultural legacy
The Rotinwa Read 