Celebrating the Peckham-Lagos connection
Photo: Adeyemi Michael, Entitled (still), 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
Daniel Nelson
Lagos Peckham Repeat: Pilgrimage to the Lakes is full of energy, humour and invention - just like the several thousand Nigerians in the south London district of Peckham, part of 12,000 Nigerians in the borough of Southwark.
It features work by 13 Nigerian and British-Nigerian artists, exploring the ideas of home and identity of several generations of Nigerians who “settle in London permanently, return to Lagos, or move elsewhere”.
Initially, they came to acquire university qualifications with which they could replace colonial academics and officials. Many of the returnees subsequently sent their own children to London for education. They were followed by others escaping an economic slump, political instability and civil war — fuelled by British arms sales to the federal government.
Some stayed, setting up businesses, buying property and creating one of London’s most multicultural neighbourhoods.
This manifestation of migration is vividly captured in one of the most striking images in the exhibition: Michael Adeyemi’s 4.36-minute video of his mother wearing ceremonial Yoruba attire as she rides a horse through the streets of Peckham, while a voiceover recalls her experience of moving to the UK. The gracefulness of movement reflects “the women, the mothers, moving a whole family from one country to another, raising a family, making it look effortless.” It is indeed “triumphant, victorious and celebratory”.
Other topics include a vibrant soundscape of Lagos; the real value of commodities in Lagos and Peckham; beer “that vibrates to the sound of Lagos” (“Please do not touch the artwork,” a notice pleads, “Beer is available to buy in the shop”); a wig-based train journey, a rosary bead weave, forced evictions at Tarkwa Bay; a portrait photo rescue project and a haunting look at the cobwebbed Nigerian Film Unit; two large photographs in which Yinka Shonibare poses as a Victorian dandy; water in indigo dyeing; a sculpture on which children can play; a playful representation of a modern city; and an ongoing project about the diet of the south-eastern Igbo people.
It’s an allusive, thoughtful, exuberant show, a testimony to the vitality of the Nigerian presence.
If there is just one takeaway from the show, says co-curator Folakunle Oshun, ”it is that the Nigerian migrant is more than an alien seeking ‘Refuge’; the Nigerian migrant is a pilgrim on a journey for a specific reason - and destined to return home.”
Artists include: Abdulrazaq Awofeso, Seyi Adelekun, Chiizii, Ndidi Dike, Victor Ehikhamenor, Onyeka Igwe, Lagos Studio Archives, Adeyemi Michael, Christopher Obuh, Emeka Ogboh, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Temitayo Shonibare, Yinka Shonibare
Lagos Peckham Repeat: Pilgrimage to the Lakes, free, is at the South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH & Fire Station Galleries, SE15 5LQ until 29 October. Info: https://www.southlondongallery.org// 7703 6120/ mail@southlondongallery.org
+ 13 September, Jimi Famurewa in conversation with Jendella Benson, 7–8pm
+ 16 September, Boy, Brother, Friend: Kk Obi’s day of talks, fashion and music
1 October, South By South, screening and talk about Nigerian migration to non-English-speaking countries, particularly Brazil, curated by Awa Konate, 5-8pm, £6/£4