Lagos Photo Festival 2014 Kicks Off Today At Eko Hotel And Suites

The LagosPhoto Foundation presents the fifth edition of the annual LagosPhoto Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, October 25-November 26, 2014, entitled Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction.

Launched in 2010, LagosPhoto is the first and only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria. In a month long programme, events include exhibitions, workshops, artist presentations, discussions, screenings, and large scale outdoor installations in congested public spaces in Lagos. LagosPhoto aims to provide a platform for the development and education of contemporary photography in Africa by establishing mentorships and cross-cultural collaborations with local and international artists. LagosPhoto presents photography as it is embodied in the exploration of historical and contemporary issues, the promotion of social programmes, and the reclaiming of public spaces. LagosPhoto 2014 features forty photographers spanning twenty one countries.

This year’s theme, Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction, examines contemporary photographers working in Africa who negotiate the boundaries and relationships between photography, beliefs, and truths. Incorporating conceptual and performative strategies that expand traditional photographic practice, many contemporary artists working on the continent move beyond the confines of the photojournalistic gaze. These artists produce work that considers the complex social and political concerns that define a new Africa in the twenty-first century, and they explore how the ubiquity of images plays a vital role in how reality is constructed and articulated. Utilizing genres such as staged narratives, performance, appropriation, self-portraiture, and still life, these artists push the temporal and spatial boundaries of the photographic medium. In doing so, Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction considers how these artists imagine different futures and charter fictive worlds, using photography as a catalyst to investigate the changing realities of Africa today.

LagosPhoto opens to the public on October 25, 2014 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. Satellite exhibition venues in arts and cultural spaces throughout the city extend to Omenka Gallery, African Artists’ Foundation, Stranger Lagos, Goethe-Institut, Alliance Francaise, and Miliki. Outdoor exhibitions in public spaces in Lagos include Muri Okunola Park (Victoria Island), Falomo Roundabout (Ikoyi), Beko Ransome Kuti Park (Antony), Awojobi Park (Onike), MKO Abiola Park (Ikeja), and Dolphin Park (Ikoyi).

LagosPhoto is proudly sponsored by the Eko Hotel & Suites and Etisalat, with partners World Press Photo and the Archive of Modern Conflict. Supporters include LIRS, LASAA, LASPARK, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Lufthansa, Microsoft, Romarong, Pirelli, WINGS Magazine, PIXERS, Luxeria, Doculand, Pernod Ricard Nigeria, iREP, Universal Furniture, Goethe Institut, British Council, RFI, France 24 and Easy Taxi. LagosPhoto is additionally supported by the Ford Foundation.

Participating Artists:

Ade Adekola (Nigeria) | Laurence Aëgerter (France) | Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (Benin) | Jenevieve Aken (Nigeria) | Seun Akisanmi (Nigeria) | Aisha Augie-Kuta (Nigeria) | Ricardo Cases (Spain) | Edson Chagas (Angola) | Kudzanai Chiurai (Zimbabwe) | Pierre-Christophe Gam (France/Cameroon) | Angélica Dass (Brazil) | Cristina de Middel (Spain) | Delphine Fawundu (Sierra Leone/USA) | Glenna Gordon (USA) | Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco) | Jacqueline Hassink (The Netherlands) | Nicolas Henry (France) | Jan Hoek (The Netherlands) | Sam Hopkins (UK/Kenya) | Namsa Leuba (Switzerland/Guinea) | Lowe Cape Town (South Africa) | Thomas Mailaender (France) | Dillon Marsh (South Africa) | Jide Odukoya (Nigeria) | Abraham Oghobase (Nigeria) | Karl Ohiri and Riikka Kassinen (UK & Finland) | Bayo Omoboriowo (Nigeria) Zac Ové (UK/Trinidad) | Augustin Rebetez (Switzerland) | Viviane Sassen (The Netherlands) | Mary Sibande (South Africa) | Anoek Steketee & Eefje Blankevoort (The Netherlands) | Sésu Tilley-Gyado (Nigeria) | Bénédicte Vanderreydt (Belgium) | Karine Versluis (The Netherlands) | Lorenzo Vitturi (Italy) | Patrick Willocq (France) | Hans Wilschut (The Netherlands)

Through our numerous collaborations, LagosPhoto continues to provide a platform for the improvement and progression of professional and emerging photographic talent in a comprehensive public programming initiative that includes workshops, artist presentations, and portfolio reviews facilitated by prominent local and international photographers.

Special projects this year include:

Archive of Modern Conflict

The Archive of Modern Conflict, an independent publisher based in London, partners with LagosPhoto this year with three projects that explore vernacular photography in Africa, including an exhibition of Nollywood/Bollywood images, the Out of Africa project which juxtaposes historical photographs from different eras, and the Studio Cameroon film screening and exhibition that examines the history of the popular photography studio Photo Jeunesse.

LagosPhoto Summer School

LagosPhoto Summer School, in partnership with the Neue Schule für Fotografie in Berlin, Germany, offers an international exchange with a ten day master workshop in Lagos to be held for emerging photographers during LagosPhoto. The LagosPhoto Summer School is organised by Eva Maria Ocherbauer in association with LagosPhoto.

Etisalat Photography Competition: Mastering the Selfie

The Etisalat Photography Competition aims to develop and nurture photographic talent in Nigeria by providing a platform for emerging Nigerian photographers to have their work exhibited to a wide audience and win monetary prizes. This year, the theme Mastering the Selfie explores the selfie phenomena in popular culture by asking participants to send self-portraits of themselves throughout the year in monthly designated themes. The Etisalat Photography Competition utilises multiple web-based platforms and social media outlets making it easier for the public to participate. Three winners will be announced during the Grand Opening of LagosPhoto Festival.

POPCAP ’14

POPCAP ’14, the international photography competition for contemporary African photography, has partnered with LagosPhoto to present its exhibition in Lagos during the festival. This year’s winners: Joana Choumali (Ivory Coast), Ilan Godfrey (South Africa), Léonard Pongo (Belgium), Anoek Steketee & Eefje Blankevoort (The Netherlands), and Patrick Willocq (France) --- executed photographic projects taken on the African continent or that deal with the African Diaspora. POPCAP ’14 travels to the PhotoIreland Festival (Dublin), Image Afrique (Basel), Cape Town Month of Photography (Cape Town), Eyes On (Vienna), Festival Internacional de Fotographia Cabo Verde (Mindelo), and Addis Foto Fest (Addis Ababa) in addition to LagosPhoto.

LagosPhoto Award for Excellence in Photography: Samuel Fosso

This year, LagosPhoto honours legendary photographer Samuel Fosso as the inaugural recipient of the LagosPhoto Award for Excellence in Photography, presented annually to a photographer who has contributed significantly to the discourse and development of photography in Africa. The award will be presented at the LagosPhoto Gala on November 2, 2014.

Interventions: Engaging Criticality through Photographic Practice

This three-day symposium will explore the thematic spectrum of the festival through a series of panel discussions with participating artists, examining how photography can be used as a critical tool in negotiating the politics of media representation. Topics include: 1) Fictionalizing the Self: Staging Performance in Contemporary Photography; 2) Constructed Narratives: The Theatrical Shift in Contemporary Photography; and 3) History as Fiction: The Exploration of the Photographic Archive.

YECA/iREP Film Screening

This year inaugurates the first session of YECA (Youth Empowerment Through Contemporary Art), a programme sponsored in partnership with the Ford Foundation that targets youth in public schools in Lagos with courses in photography and visual arts. LagosPhoto partners with iRep, the international documentary film festival in Lagos, to screen the film Supreme Price to sixty students in the YECA programme at Freedom Park.

Square Award: Presented to Dillon Marsh

Christophe Dillinger, editor of Square Magazine, will present the annual Square Award to South African photographer Dillon Marsh for his series Invasive Species, which will be exhibited at LagosPhoto.

Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art (MMMoCA)

In partnership with Goethe-Institute, the Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art will be presented at the LagosPhoto Grand Opening on October 25, 2014. The Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art is a project developed by Nigerian artist Emeka Udemba which aims at making contemporary art more accessible to the mainstream public through a moveable and transitory exhibition platform.

World Press Photo

World Press Photo, the preeminent international photography competition that features the best of photojournalism worldwide, brought its annual exhibition to Lagos in July 2014 in partnership with LagosPhoto. The World Press Photo exhibition reaches an audience of over two million people annually and travels to over 45 countries each year. This is the second year of World Press Photo’s partnership with LagosPhoto, expanding the conceptual scope of LagosPhoto to include the global discourse of photojournalism and current events worldwide.

LagosPhoto Mobile App

LagosPhoto has launched the LagosPhoto Mobile App, available on Android and iPhone devices, where visitors can find information about the exhibitions, artists, and satellite projects. The LagosPhoto Mobile App is supported by Etisalat Nigeria.

LagosPhoto International Exhibitions

This year, LagosPhoto has expanded its scope to an international audience with exhibitions presented at the Joburg Art Fair (Johannesburg), Fondation Zinsou (Cotonou), and Addis Foto Fest (Addis Ababa).

For more information about LagosPhoto, please visit our website at www.lagosphotofestival.com or by email at info@lagosphotofestival.com.

KEY DATES:

October 24, 2014: VIP Preview, LagosPhoto, Escalator Entrance, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, 6 PM (Invitation Only)

October 25, 2014: Grand Opening Ceremony, LagosPhoto, Escalator Entrance, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos

November 2, 2014: LagosPhoto Gala, Lantana Hall, Eko Hotel & Suites

October 25 - November 2, 2014: LagosPhoto Professional Week, with a comprehensive programme of receptions, discussions, presentations, and workshops (various locations)

 www.lagosphotofestival.com
Twitter: @LagosPhotoFest
Facebook: Lagosphoto Festival
Instagram: LagosPhotoFestival

         Sponsored Content