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Curator's Note

Most people see Makoko from the bridge. Anth Ezeokoye brings us down to the water, where a man poles his canoe and children ride beside him…

Curator's Note

The power here is in the angle: she is turned away from us, looking forward. Then you find the map of Africa inked on her neck, and the por…

Curator's Note

Omotayo Tajudeen lights his sitter from behind until the gold seems to come from the figure itself. The crown is beaded, the robe sweeps ou…

Curator's Note

Her face is drawn in black and white while everything around her blooms in colour. Then you notice the hand resting on her shoulder, the on…

Curator's Note

The centrepiece of Toni Kuyinu's royal trio, and the only face that meets us head-on, yet his eyes are closed. Nothing is being claimed or …

Curator's Note

The most crowded of Yeko's pictures, and the most devotional. There is a great face with closed eyes, a hand lifting a small vessel, women …

Curator's Note

The molue at the front of this picture has mostly left Lagos roads, which is exactly why it belongs here. Anth Ezeokoye parks the old Merce…

Curator's Note

The collar is the detail to find: wide, white and a little old-fashioned, worn with complete confidence. Ekundayo keeps her face in quick p…

Curator's Note

A fairy tale rewritten by someone it left out. Emmanuel's mermaid has an afro, a crown and an ocean that answers to her. For some children …

Curator's Note

Yeko calls her son her Sun, and this is a picture of carrying one. A pregnant woman balances a tall patterned vessel on her head, eyes clos…

Curator's Note

A homage in the caricaturist's language: Fela at the keys, eyes shut, smoke curling, a spotlight from one side and fire rising on the other…