LAGOS PORTFOLIO REVIEW

The Lagos Portfolio Review gives special opportunity to photographers to get feedback, guidance, professional and industry expert opinion about their works. This inaugural edition is co-organized by The Nlele Institute (TNI), a Pan-African, autonomous nonprofit organization focusing on lens-based media and the Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives Africa Group of The Museum of Modern Art (C-MAP Africa, MoMA).

This is part of TNI’s efforts to further develop photography and lens-based artistic practice in Nigeria, and fill the developmental gap for emerging photographers from the West African region.

Venue: Angels and Muse, 5 Sumbo Jibowu St. Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria
Date: Monday, 31 October – Wednesday, 2 November 2022

PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO REVIEWS:

31 October - 1 November (Doors open at 9:30am)

From 10am – 6pm Adopting an “open crit” model, the Photography Portfolio Reviews will gather a group thirty photographers (30) and four reviewers (4) in an intensive series of portfolio reviews. Each day, 15 photographers will present a selected series or aspect of their practice. Each photographer will be allotted twenty minutes: ten to present, ten to respond to questions from the group. Participants will be selected through an open call, and the portfolio review will be facilitated by: Amaize Ojeikere (TNI), Kunbi Oni (C-MAP Africa, MoMA), Oluremi C. Onabanjo (C-MAP Africa, MoMA) and Uche Okpa-Iroha (TNI).

CRITICAL WORKSHOP

2 November, from 2 - 5.30pm

The workshop will consist of three sessions: two that are about the artistic process, and one that foregrounds critical and curatorial perspectives. These sessions will also allow an opportunity to take up the key artistic and critical themes featured in MoMA’s forthcoming exhibition New Photography 2023 (May 28 – September 16, 2023). All sessions will be free and open to the public, but prior registration will be required. See links below to register:

Artist’s Session:

Itinerant Images (2pm – 3pm) Akinbode Akinbiyi, Logo Oluwamuyiwa, and Karl Ohiri. This session will spotlight photographers who take life on the street as their subject, engaging its social, poetic, and formal valances. An intergenerational group, Akinbiyi will present on “Lagos: All Roads” (ca.1980s-ongoing), Oluwamuyiwa on “Monochrome Lagos” (2013-ongoing), and Karl Ohiri on “The Archive of Becoming” (2015-ongoing).

Critical Curatorial Session:

The Substance of the Image (4.30pm – 5.30pm) Victor Ehikhamenor, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Uche Okpa-Iroha, and Oluremi C. Onabanjo. This session will bring together a group of critics, curators, and arts administrators engaging contemporary photographic and artistic practices in order to discuss the politics of the image and the infrastructural and conceptual challenges generated by attending to it comprehensively. Case studies will include processes of exhibition-making, institution-building, and publication-crafting that engage the position of Lagos through local and theglobal lenses.

Artist’s Session:

Photographic Undercurrents (3.15pm – 4.15pm) Amanda Iheme, Abraham Oghobase and Kelani Abass. This session will present artists whose works are materially and conceptually informed by the relationship between photography and history. Enfolding the perspectives of those that engage the image at various stages of its “social life,” Amanda Iheme will present on “The Way of Life” (2015-2019), Abraham Oghobase on “Constructed Realities” (2019) and Kelani Abass on “Casing History” (ca. 2017-2021).

Open Call: Lagos Portfolio Review

The inaugural Lagos Portfolio Review (LPR) is now open for submissions. Taking place from 31 October – 1 November 2022, LPR will provide a critical space of exchange and growth for emerging photographers and photo-based artists living and working in Nigeria. Adopting an “open crit” model, the LPR will invite each member of the selected group of photographers to present a specific series or aspect of their practice to their peers and a panel of facilitators. This two-day convening will provide a crucial opportunity for formal and conceptual development for each participant, preparing them to engage and excel within the global scene of photographic and artist production. This edition of LPR is co-organized by the Contemporary and Modern Art Perspectives Africa Group of The Museum of Modern Art (C-MAP Africa, MoMA) and The Nlele Institute (TNI), a Pan-African, autonomous nonprofit organization focusing on lens-based media.

Submission Materials

1. 1-2 bodies of work, 15 – 25 photographs max. (72 DPI and 1200 Pixels on the longest edge)
2. Short Bio (300 words)
3. Artist Statement (500 words)
4. Statement of Motivation (why do you want to participate?) (300 words)

Deadline for Submissions: Friday 30 September, 2022
Notification of Selected Participants: Friday 14 October, 2022

Apply Here