NIGERIAN CENTENARY PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
STATEMENT FROM THE KOLA ALUKO FOUNDATION The Kola Aluko Foundation is proud to sponsor the Nigerian Centenar y Photography Exhibition. This unique collection of photographs char t the developments in photography as an ar tistic practice in Nigeria, over the course of the last 100 years. J. D. Okhai Ojeikere, to whom this exhibition is dedicated, is an inspiration to all Nigerians and Africans. As the father of Nigerian photography, he tells Nigeria’s proud story, showcasing our rich cultural heritage to the world. He is a Nigerian leader who continues to this day to motivate and influence others. The Kola Aluko Foundation has been created to inspire, mentor and suppor t future generations of African leaders. We want to engage and nurture young Africans to reach their full potential in all fields. In so doing, we hope that the young people we suppor t will not only develop into leaders, but also become inspirational role models for others. This is the cycle of change that we want to establish and foster.
NIGERIAN CENTENARY PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION 16th - 31st JULY 2014 BONHAMS, LONDON
CELEBRATING TRAJECTORIES OF NIGERIAN PHOTOGRAPHY DR CHARLES GORE, MA, PHD (SOAS LONDON)
This exhibition of photography celebrates Nigeria’s centenary. There is no better way of commemorating this one hundredth year than to honour the Nigerian photographers who throughout its history have documented and reflected on its peoples, events and transformation into the countr y that we know today. Nigeria as a nation state emerged from the diver sity of preceding kingdoms, emirates, chieftaincies and other communities via an interlude of colonisation by the British. The British had set up coastal enclaves along the west coast of Africa initially for commercial trade, but by the end of the nineteenth century there was a shift in policy to one of imperialist territorial expansion. This resulted in the development of the separate southern and nor thern protectorates of Nigeria by 1906 and their subsequent amalgamation in 1914 by Lord Lugard into a single unified political and territorial entity. It is from this history there emerged one of the most significant nation states on the Africa continent, gaining independence and self-rule in 1960. The exhibition juxtaposes a selection of works by contemporary Nigerian photographers with a selection of works by their Nigerian predecessors (by descent or permanent settlement) produced at significant periods in Nigeria’s formation. The exhibition invites the viewer to consider the “now” and “then” – the similarities and differences in technology, in events, individuals and landscapes, and in the par ticular ways of seeing that each photographer constructs his or her imagery. African photography has flourished in the twenty-first century and no more so than in the Nigerian art scene, where it has been at the forefront of creativity in the global contemporary arts circuit with its artists providing innovative and striking forms of expression.
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These photographers offer diverse and original visions of Nigeria and the rest of the world. Their images are the product, or rather distillation, of specifically Nigerian sensibilities shaped by the cultural, social and ecological experiences of living in the countr y. They ar ticulate the “now” of Nigeria with its energy and dynamism and its contrasts of individuals, communities and landscapes. At the same time they look to the future with its new possibilities in an ever more inter-connected world, where with the digital “turn” (whether in pixels rather than film, in Face book or Instagram, and in the latest app) visual imagery becomes more and more central to communicating and sharing all the varied facets of the human condition. Looking back to the “then”, whether in the years leading up to Nigeria’s formation or at independence when the right to selfdetermination was finally wrested from the depar ting British, it is striking how both these times also offered a world of new possibilities. In the mid nineteenth century Lagos, settlements northwards on the river Niger, and those in the Niger Delta became the initial British enclaves in what is present day Nigeria. The Oba of Lagos, Akitoye, signed a treaty with the British in 1851 and ten years later it became a Crown colony. Lagos rapidly replaced Freetown as the pre-eminent hub of commercial activity in West Africa. African photographers quickly established themselves at this great urban centre, producing images for both African and European clients. Moreover Lagosian, Niger Delta and Old Calabar photographers roamed widely beyond their studios in search of innovative imagery and new African clients. This was a modernist ar t form, offering new technological ways of seeing that found eager and receptive African publics.
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These photographers’ images are not only a seminal par t of the histor y of Nigeria, but also offer unique perspectives from the Nigerian viewpoint on the dynamic changes that took place as these enclaves expanded to become protectorates and then the nation state of Nigeria. This perspective is comparable in significance to that of present day photographers (or indeed the photographers who recorded independence when Nigeria was reshaped for all its citizens). These early photographers also documented many of the most important African members of Lagos society upon whom the British depended. This can be seen in the exhibition in images such as Neils Walwin Holm’s photograph entitled “Souvenirs of Times that Remind of Lagos Past”. This image commemorates some of the most influential individuals of West Africa who had helped build Lagos - whether the foremost palm oil trader of the Delta, Shitta Bey (acknowledged head of the Muslim community), Prince Oyekan the Oba of Lagos, Otunba Payne (who was the first Lagos High Cour t registrar and a member of the Ijebu Ode royal family) or Edward Wilmot Blyden, the Pan Africanist pioneer. Similarly Holm’s image of “A Steam Launch Built Entirely at Lagos: Ready for the Water 1905” highlights the cosmopolitan modernity of Lagos at that time, while a little later Alfred Carew’s image “Amalgamation Meeting, Lagos” similarly records the imminent amalgamation of Nigeria with all the transformations it effected. Independence in 1960 was another key moment in Nigeria’s history and a brief snapshot is offered by two photographers, Fosa and Olojo, who evoke a sense of liberation.
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Fosa through a lagoon landscape, and Olojo in the creativity of the ar ts captured by his image of the celebrated high life musician I.K. Dario and his Blue Spot band, whose songs playfully comment on life post-independence. There is also the visuality of Olojo’s portrait of the powerful materiality and presence of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos (first established in 1869 and rebuilt from 1924 onwards) that, in one form or another, has been present in every epoch of Nigeria. The images by these photographers complement the two works displayed by the world famous Nigerian photographer J.D. Okhai Ojeikere (1930-2014) who sadly passed away earlier this year and to whom this exhibition is dedicated in memoriam. His copious body of work is a gift to future generations. Amalgamation The exhibition presents a sample of themes and photographers, juxtaposing the contemporary with images from different historical moments that underline the long and varied histor y of Nigerian photography. It begins with an image by Alfred Carew, a photographer who had a studio in Lagos and who also photographed throughout southern Nigeria, both prior and after amalgamation from the 1880’s to the 1920’s. This image records the inception of Nigeria as a single country from the two prior protectorates. This was a consolidation of British colonial rule under Lord Lugard, who advocated a system of indirect rule through customary kings and chiefs. Tellingly, this image was taken from the perspective of the expectant crowds, waiting for news on the amalgamation and who were to become its newfound citizens.
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In contrast, Adeola Olagunju’s image (entitled “Excuse Me” from the ‘Resurgence: A Manifesto’ series) places herself as the solitar y subject, with her face partly hidden by a book, and set in a larger, yet ambiguous and elusive space. Behind her is gateway partly boarded up, the shapes of which perhaps echo the design of the British Flag, the Union Jack, while the book in her hands is by the Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhaemenor, similarly entitled “Excuse me” that offers his personal narrative. Olagunju’s self-por trait was taken long after colonial rule, which has become an almost forgotten memor y. Yet the ambiguities of the image pose questions about the elusiveness of identity and the enigma of unfixed meanings that only become understood subsequently. These speculative themes echo Carew’s image of Nigerians in 1914 straddling a cusp of colonial change that had unforeseeable outcomes. Cosmopolitan Styles Then and Now By the end of the nineteenth century Lagos had established itself as the pre-eminent cosmopolitan metropolis of West Africa. Its style is expressed in Obafemi Luther’s portrait of a fashionable entourage of young Lagosian men promenading across Five Cowrie Creek Bridge. This image circa 1900 is so named, as prior to the building of the bridge, the ferry from Victoria island to Ikoyi cost five cowries. This image is counter-pointed by Uche Okpa-Iroha’s playful reflections on the global circulation of cultural style. Okpa-Iroha creates a sequence of theatrical images in his ‘Plantation Boys Series’ that reference and transform motifs derived from the The Godfather series of Hollywood blockbuster films into beguiling and iconic images of contemporary style and fashion.
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Courage and Fire The next section contrasts such iconic styles, both global and local, with the often dangerous profession of firemen past and present. Lagos in the late nineteenth century was plagued by fires that often spread rapidly. In 1880, the single fire engine was only used for colonial emergencies (otherwise it was locked up in Tinubu Square) and was not available to the wider Lagosian populace, much to their discontent. A campaign was run in the Lagos newspapers for the training of a crew of Lagosian fire men to operate the fire engine for the benefit of all the city’s inhabitants. Their local affiliation, along with their skills, and their courage in dealing with the extremes of fire tempered by civic purpose were a source of local pride. This is reflected in their selfpossessed demeanours as they pose, hatchets at the ready, before the camera of photographer N.W.Holm. Akintunde Akinleye takes a very different approach in depicting Lagos firemen. He captures them at “the decisive moment� and thereby crystallises their actions. His images present firstly a fireman controlling a fire, and, in the subsequent image, cooling off in response to the extremes of heat to which he has been subjected. In both eras there is the imprint of civic duty played against the visuality of available technologies for firefighting.
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Urban Living, Lagos Turning to urban living, this reflects the mass movements of people in the twentieth centur y to the cities of Nigeria, and perhaps the largest scale of this took place in Lagos and Ibadan. Jide Alakija’s image entitled Invisible Cities #1: Bombay, was actually taken in Lagos. It presents in its accentuated horizontal composition the grandeur of the metropole’s urban sprawl. It is here that newcomers make their homes, seemingly anyhow, in order to gain purchase in the competitive hustle and bustle of city life. In contrast to the exteriority of Alakija’s image, Emeka Okereke’s image entitled “A Long Wait” focuses on interiority, infrastructural aspirations (with a Lagos signage intentionally super-imposed on a Parisian metro station) and a broader analysis of the migrant experience. H. Sanya Freeman, appointed Photographerin-chief to the Governor of Nigeria in the 1920’s, combines the two approaches by emphasising both the outdoor environment of the street in the patterning of its signage, people, and buildings, while at the same time underlining its uniqueness of character and its selfcontained interior-like qualities as made evident in the composition of the image. Life and Water One aspect of the Fosa studio, operating in the 1950’s to 1970’s, was its use of landscape as a par ticular genre to capture the environs of Lagos, visually exploiting the network of lagoons that stretch out eastwards to the Niger Delta, and westwards with one or two interruptions to the river Volta in Ghana.
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Both Fosa and George Osodi’s images celebrate the multiple relationships between people and water. All three images poetically emphasise the canoes balanced almost precariously on the surface of the ebb and flow of this environment - realised through the medium of black and white in Fosa’s case and colour in Osodi’s work. Cathedral Established as a church in 1869 and rebuilt as a cathedral from1924 onwards by the architect Benjamin Bagandogi in an imposing Norman Gothic style, Christ Church Cathedral was completed in 1946 and is the seat of the Bishop of Lagos. From the other side of the junction at Marina, Olojo concentrates on the architectural monumentality of the building thrown into relief by the directional cast of the light. Amaize Ojeikeire revisits it in colour ; his first image zooms in on the facade, reaching to almost blot out the sky, while his second image marks out its community presence within the bustling cosmopolitanism of Lagos. Music and Singers One of the major creative strands of Nigeria has always been its many multitudes of musical form and song, constructed in complex, ar tful and often multiple rhythmic time signatures. During the era of independence the music of I.K. Dario typified the aspirations and optimism that emerged at this time of freedom and creativity. Olojo has playfully captured the popular I.K. Dario and his Blue Spot band seemingly in full flow.
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The subject of Andrew Esiebo’s images is the world famous singer Nneka placed in the first image as a solitar y figure “contre jour” with the busy Lagos street below. His second image echoes that of Olojo with its similar equal emphasis on the visual presence of the percussion musicians, but here he presents a closer relationship of the photographer to the participants, as he also takes a place within the musicians’ circle. People and Power This theme considers a range of individuals presenting themselves to the camera. The image by N.W. Holm, taken in late 1894 or the beginning of 1895 in Lagos colony (and as noted previously) brings, together some of the most important individuals (both entrepreneurs, educators and the Oba of Lagos) who had helped make Lagos colony. These great entrepreneurs made vast fortunes (and sometimes lost and remade them) in the new dynamic forms of commercial trade of the second half of the nineteenth century. They decorated Lagos with superb architecture (often in an Afro Brasilian style) and donated extensively and generously to the betterment of the people (of what was to become Nigeria) through founding gifts for churches, mosques, schools, institutes, music and the arts. In this way they laid the foundations for the future of Nigeria.
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Moreover this historic meeting evokes memories of the first major collective protest led by these individuals against the new impositions of colonial rule. It presaged the rise of a nationalist consciousness and ultimately the independence of Nigeria through the political struggle of the first half of the twentieth century against colonial rule. This is complemented by H. Sanya Freeman’s portrait of Itsekiri young women, dressed in the very finest and fashionable hand woven and printed cloth against a horizon of palm foliage. It gracefully underscores the vitality of future generations of Nigerian citizens and their power to shape the future post amalgamation. This is reflected in Aisha Augie-Kuta’s similar image taken in 2012 in which two generations of young girls are framed by a doorway, seemingly in the middle of some discussion or event. The final images of this section offer two historic images. The first predates amalgamation and presents a portrait taken by N.W. Holm of Chief Loree of Warri who stands by his seated mother, typifying the handing down of knowledge and guidance from one generation to another. The second image taken by the dynamic and pre-eminent photographer of the 1930’s, J.B. Abimbola, marks the festival day of Bere held at Oyo, in this instance on the 5th January 1931. The Alafin of Oyo, the chiefs and titleholders as well as the remainder of the community gather to cut together the thatching grass that is to be used for roofing in the forthcoming year, as way to mark the end of the year and offer thanks for the annual harvest. The festival thereby celebrates the collective power of the community.
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Vessels and Vehicles The final theme counterpoints different modes of transpor t. The title of “A Steam Launch built entirely at Lagos. Ready for the water 1905” by N.W. Holm asser ts the contemporar y modernity and industrialisation of Lagos with its technological potential in 1905. Adolphus Opara reverses the context to envisage a post-industrial world in which a great oil tanker, that once plied the oceans to fuel the world, lies beached and ready for salvage. This is followed by a portrait entitled “Chief of Bakana” taken by Jonathan A. Green, the Bonny based photographer who documented the Niger Delta from the 1890’s to 1905. This image is a psychological study of the Chief, but also traces the adoption of the latest Victorian technological conveniences that were the height of fashion at that time. The final image is dedicated to the late Emir of Kano, His Highness Ado Bayero (ruled 1967-2014) who sadly passed away recently and features his iconic Rolls Royce taken by George Osodi in 2012. Selected Readings Atawodi, Ebi, (2010) Nigerians: Behind the Lens, Inden. Gore, Charles (2013) Neils Walwin Holm: Radicalising the Image in Lagos Colony, Lagos, History of Photography, 37 (3). Nimis, Erika (2005) Photographes d’Afrique de L’Ouest: L’Experience Yoruba, Paris
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J.D. OKHAI OJEIKERE 1930-2014 The Nigerian Centenary Photography Exhibition is dedicated to the extraordinary life and legacy of Nigerian photographer, J.D. Okhai Ojeikere. His extensive album spans more than 60 years and is a profound documentation of Nigeria’s rich and diverse cultural heritage. His prominence as an artist is a testament to the consistency of his vision and his ability to translate the specificities of culture into a global language. J.D. Okhai Ojeikere was, and remains, the father of contemporary Nigerian photograhpy—his work is an enduring inspiration to us all.
J.D. OKHAI OJEIKERE Niger House
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J.D. OKHAI OJEIKERE Untitled
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AMALGAMATION
ALFRED F. CAREW Amalgamation Meeting, Lagos 1914
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ADEOLA OLAGUNJU Excuse Me! from Resurgence: A Manifesto Series 2013
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COSMOPOLITAN STYLES THEN AND NOW
OBAFEMI LUTHER Five Cowrie Creek Bridge, Lagos
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UCHE OKPA-IROHA Untitled 1 from The Plantation Boy Series 2014
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UCHE OKPA-IROHA Untitled 32 from The Plantation Boy Series 2014
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UCHE OKPA-IROHA Untitled 37 from The Plantation Boy Series 2014
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COURAGE AND FIRE
N.W. HOLM Types of the Lagos Fire Brigade
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AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE Lagos Firemen 2 2010
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AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE Lagos Firemen 4 2010
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URBAN LIVING LAGOS
JIDE ALAKIJA Invisble Cities No.1 | Bombay 2008
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SANYA FREEMAN View Showing from Messrs. French Co. to Pacific House, Marina, Lagos
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EMEKA OKEREKE A Long Wait 2006
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LIFE AND WATER
FOSA STUDIOS Lagos Canal, Nigeria
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GEORGE OSODI Lagos Lagoon 2007
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GEORGE OSODI Sangana Waterfront 2006
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CATHEDRAL
OLOJO STUDIOS Christ Church Cathedral, Lagos
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AMAIZE OJEIKERE Cathedral Church of Christ I 2006
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AMAIZE OJEIKERE Cathedral Church of Christ II 2006
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MUSIC AND SINGERS
OLOJO STUDIOS I.K.Dario and his Blue Spot Band, Ilesha
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ANDREW ESIEBO Nneka 1 2010
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ANDREW ESIEBO Nneka 1I 2010
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PEOPLE AND POWER
N.W. HOLM Chief Loree, Lagos
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SANYA FREEMAN Well Dressed Itsekiri at Lagos
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AISHA AUGIE-KUTA Modelling Reality 2012
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N.W. HOLM Souvenir of Lives Past - Prince Oyekan/Shitta Bey, Capt. Davies, R.B.Blaize, Otunba Payne/Dr. Blydden, Consul Leigh
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J.B. ABIMBOLA Oyo Native Chief, Bere Festival, 5.1.31 1931
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VESSELS AND VEHICLES
N.W. HOLM A Steam Launch Built Entirely at Lagos, Ready for the Water 1905
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ADOLPHUS OPARA Untitled 1 from the Shrinking Shoreline Series 2013
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ADOLPHUS OPARA Untitled 1I from the Shrinking Shoreline Series 2013
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J.A. GREEN Chief of Bakana
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GEORGE OSODI Emir of Kano 2012
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VINTAGE ARTISTS Alfred F. Carew Fosa Studios J.A. Green J.B. Abimbola N.W. Holm Obafemi Luther Olojo Studios Sanya Freeman
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS Adeola Olagunju Adolphus Opara Aisha Augie-Kuta Akintunde Akinleye Amaize Ojeikere Andrew Esiebo Emeka Okereke George Osodi J.D. Okhai Ojeikere Jide Alakija Uche Okpa-Iroha
CREDITS
Published by TAFETA on the occasion of the
Nigerian Centenary Photography Exhibition at Bonhams, London 16th - 31st July 2014
TAFETA 47-50 Margaret Street London W1W 8SB
Supported by The Kola Aluko Foundation
Curators Ayo Adeyinka | TAFETA London Dr. Charles Gore | SOAS London
Limited print run of 500
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.
Printed by L&S Printing, England June 2014
Curatorial Consultant Adesola Noor Alabi | adesolaalabi.com
Vintage photography from the Collection of Charles Gore All contemporary art works Š the artists