Tuesday 23 October 2018

Adekola's ‘Ghosts of Bar Beach’ unveils GalleryB57

From Adekola's 'Ghosts of Bar Beach' photography exhibition.

Lost memory of Lagos Bar Beach recovered in photography by Ade Adekola opens new space, GalleryB57.

The inaugural exhibition titled Ghosts of Bar Beach.  opens on October 28, and ends November 11, 2018, showing from 10am to 6pm daily at Gallery B57, 57 Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The exhibition, according to the gallery, is a solo show by Adekola, which provides "post-documentary perspective" to the history of the once famous Lagos Bar Beach.

“Our inaugural exhibition explores nostalgia and memory, ‘Colour, the Colourful and the Spectacular’ at 57 Bishop Oluwole, Victoria Island, Lagos", the gallery stated. "Bar Beach conjures up several aspects of nostalgia from the 1500s with the naming of its environs as ‘Lago du Curamo’; to the 1800s with the British bombardment of Lagos; up to the 1970’s where it was a place of spectacle of death”. Recalling how Bar Beach’s long history as an attraction to foreign and domestic tourists, "was truncated by the development of Eko Altantic City", B57 assured that "remastered images" by Adekola in the exhibition "are presented with their electrifying colours to provide access to moments of nostalgia and memories of Bar Beach moods lost for good".

Excerpts from Gallery Statement: "Adekola’s body of work is defined as ‘Post Documentary’, because of the long-time interval between shooting the images and creating the remastered works. The images do not document specific events but memories of a colourful past. Each image comes alive and creates a spark of resonance, sometimes in a slow meditative and contemplative pace.

"Ade’s symbolic gesture of layering his images, creating ghosting and the use of vibrant colours fit with the idea of time, nostalgia and loss that are consistent with the history of the Bar Beach".

Adekola is an internationally-recognised, award-winning Architect turned conceptual artist. He works primarily by exploring the possibilities offered by digital image making. He spent several years in Silicon Valley where he witnessed the dawn of the digital transformation of photography. At this juncture, Ade started to explore the transformative power offered by innovations in photography. His enthusiasm was captured, and his experimental photography practice was born. Moving back to Nigeria in 2005 his creative emphasis shifted, as he started to concentrate on creating elevating images that reframe and redefine the Nigerian Cultural narrative.

As an image maker, photography is more his medium than it is his craft. His practice is aimed at conceiving, orchestrating and delivering images so charged that one may experience them as objects. Typical in his work is the use of vibrant and at times electrifying colors.

His photography can be considered as performative; it refers to and creates vibrant memories of a time, questioning the boundaries between individual and collective experiences.  His images are considered to elevate the visual plateau of Nigerian photography.


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