A recurring theme in director Akin Omotoso’s films is the fraught postapartheid relationship between Nigerian migrants and their South African hosts. Part of the reason is autobiographical: Akin is the son of Kole, the literary professor, who moved his young family, including his then teenage son, to South Africa in the early 1990s from Nigeria. The result is that Omotoso is as much Nigerian as he is South African.
Akin Omotoso’s Country
May 25, 2012 By 1 Comment
Coca-Cola can’t copyright colour: the art of Sokari Douglas Camp
May 14, 2012 By 1 Comment
“Coca-Cola Bird” (pictured) stands facing the corner of the gallery, half-turned towards us in surprise or exhibition, oily red paint spun across the bucket cocked over her head, the same brash colour on the feathered tutu winding around her waist. Her chest sprouts sparkling empty bottles bearing the famous label, and familiar labial body.
Acoustic Guitar Break
May 11, 2012 By 1 Comment
We thought it would be nice to compile a Bonus Music Break centered on acoustic guitar music. First up is Toronto-based Ghanaian Kae Sun with “Lion on a Leash”:
Ode to Oshodi Market
May 9, 2012 By 1 Comment
One of the more endearing attributes of Lagos, Nigeria are the markets. In varying sizes and forms, they attract a multitudes from the region for various reasons. Wholesale, retail, technology, textiles, car parts, all sorts of meat, school supplies … you name it, Lagos markets will satisfy your needs; plus some adventure to boot. Markets In Lagos include Computer Village in Ikeja, Alaba International Market, Idumota, Mile 2, Mile 12, Balogun, Oyingbo, etc. [Read more...]
A BBC Report: “Shell brought me here …”
April 24, 2012 By 5 Comments
In a video posted today on BBC News, the BBC’s International Development Correspondent Mark Doyle is shown in a helicopter, bullet proof vest atop of the foreign correspondent’s uniform–the baby-blue shirt, ‘flying low’ over what Doyle describes as ‘possibly the largest crime scene in the world’. Invited by Shell, and accompanied by some of its engineers, Doyle is flown over pipelines in Southern Nigeria where evidence of local siphoning is clear; home-made refining pits that Doyle describes as ‘cauldrons’ (without irony), and thick black smoke are visible from the aerial images. Doyle repeatedly uses the words ‘illegal’, ‘stealing’ and ‘hacking’, while offering almost no context as to why the locals are reclaiming some of the resources.
The 19th New York African Film Festival: “Relentless”
April 13, 2012 By 1 Comment
“Relentless” is fundamentally a film about Lagos. About how director Andy Okoarafor sees it. In Okoarafor’s rendering, Lagos is a hard, inhospitable city, where people look stressed out, always hustling. They’re always on the move. But Okoarafor also has loves this city. At the film’s heart is the strong-jawed lead character Oba, played by Gideon Okeke, who spends most of his driving and walking around the city–its clogged highways, in its churches and beach bars. He is a former peacekeeper, back from Sierra Leone, where his wife, a local woman, was brutally murdered by rebel soldiers. Emotionally scarred, he returns to Nigeria where he now runs a security company protecting politicians and other important people. On one of his wanderings, he saves a prostitute (played by singer Nneka Egbuna) who fell off a bridge–she was pushed by people who want her dead. She wants Oba to help her find her friend, another prostitute, who has gone missing after entertaining some politicians and generals. Oba realizes that his new clients may be involved.
Good Friday
April 6, 2012 By 3 Comments
In the midst of so much global upheavals, it is good to know one can always count on religious and financial leaders to remind us of who the “good guys” are not. A recent Russian bruhaha over whether Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill I, wore a $30,000 Breguet timepiece (watch) or not is causing an internet stir. For good reasons too. This is a story of a national religious institution and its leader lying publicly repeatedly and being incompetent enough to cover their tracks. If he was a US politician, he would be resigning now. It is sad and frustrating when an institution that claims to be a moral compass of a country often displays lavish wealth and power, dishonestly, when a majority of its congregation is suffering under economic repression. One wishes there had been the same viral passion by Nigerians when one of their wealthy mega-Pastors claimed to be starting his own airline, in addition to the four private jets he owns and allegedly barely uses. [Read more...]
Nothing to Lose? The art of Rotimi Fani-Kayode
March 28, 2012 By 2 Comments
Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s first solo show in New York opened last week. The British-Nigerian artist’s last works, large photographs of the naked male body, are on display at the Walther Collection in New York City. These are images of rites which explore the artist’s familial background as keepers of the shrine in Ife, Nigeria, and the artist’s status as liminoid. Fani-Kayode’s interest in Yoruba ‘techniques of ecstasy’ is juxtaposed against a sombre thinking into sexuality, race, and religion, as discourses of the body. [Read more...]
Looking back on Occupy Nigeria
March 26, 2012 By 1 Comment
Nigerian producers Chris Dada and Funmi Iyanda created chopcassava.com “to document the popular fuel subsidy protests in Lagos.” They have now stitched together their “short viral films and video-blog diary, made by a team of volunteers and first uploaded during the protests.” [Read more...]
