Galleries

There must be quite a number o galleries in Lagos and I have certainly not visited all of them. However, I managed to have a look at some of them in the mornings before going to the National Gallery or in the afternoon after having finished there for the day. The first gallery I visited, apart from Terra Kulture where the works of the Kano workshop were exhibited, was Nimbus, a rather small space attached to a guest house in Ikoyi, just off Awolowo Road. I didn’t’ find any works by artists from the northern regions of Nigeria there but a good collection of back issues of New Culture Magazine as well as Nigeria Magazine which were on sell for 500 Naira (£ 2). Also on Awolowo Road are Signature Gallery and Quintessence, and, in fact, with the owner of the former I had a brief but quite interesting discussion about the current generation of artists in Zaria and why he thinks their works do not perform well at the art market. He also strongly recommended I speak to the owner of the Signature Gallery in Abuja in more detail. The biggest surprise was the Centre for Contemporary Arts, which is a new outfit based in Yaba. In contrast to the other places this one has been conceived more as a cultural centre with particular focus on contemporary arts. It has an exhibition space and a surprisingly extensive library. In addition the owner, Bisi Silva, also organises talks and presentations on the arts. In fact, she invited me to come back towards the end of my year in Nigeria and give a presentation, something along the lines of research notes. Well, I don’t mind having an excuse to come back and explore Lagos a bit further – although, compared to Maiduguri and even Abuja this town is a money eating monster and I will have to have a serious look at my finances before I make that decision.