LagosPhoto begins, holds till Nov 27

The sixth edition of the Lagos International Photography Festival (LagosPhoto) has started since October 24 and will take place across venues in Lagos State till November 27.

LagosPhoto 2015 with the theme: ‘Designing Futures’ opened to the public on October 24 at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos with Cristina De Middel as this year’s curator.

“I feel very tempted to start this introduction by giving the dictionary definition of the overarching theme behind this edition of LagosPhoto: Design. It would make sense and would help everyone, including me, to create a bit of order in the explosion of ideas and concepts the word undeniably carries. I will focus instead on other words I have just used, “order” and “explosion” as I understand they can define in a more complete way what my approach to design and specially “Design + Africa” will be like, and how I will try to present a wider understanding to the subject that, I hope, will go beyond the African wax fabric (that we all know, is made in Holland),” said De Middel in her curatorial note.

She said largely the same thing at the opening event for the festival which also featured Etisalat Nigeria that has sponsored the festival since inception and a photo competition, which winners were announced at the event.

As it is usually the case, LagosPhoto 2015 will hold satellite exhibitions in arts and cultural spaces throughout the city including: Omenka Gallery, Africans Artists’ Foundation (AAF), Stranger Lagos, Goethe-Institut, White Space and Yaba Tech.

Outdoor exhibitions in public spaces in Lagos include Muri Okunola Park, Falomo Roundabout (Ikoyi), Beko RansomeKuti Park (Anthony), Awojobi Park (Onike), Freedom Park, MKO Abiola Park (Ikeja), Quintessence, and Dolphin Park (Ikoyi).

Director of the festival, Azu Nwagbogu, said in his statement that he and the AAF, which organises the annual fiesta, are deeply grateful for all those who have supported our cause since 2010.

“Our sexennial is truly unique in the sense that we have a two-time past exhibitor and former artist-in-resident Cristina de Middel as our guest curator. Cristina offers unique insight into the workings of the festival and her experience in creating images in the city will come to bare as she discharges her various duties. Cristina is also very well supported with a team of brilliant curators Alafuro Sikoki Coleman, Maria Pia Bernardoni and Martina Olivetti,” Nwagbogu said.