Nigerian photographer Lakin Ogunbanwo’s special commission for the uptown French Galeries Lafayette has been on exhibit in the windows of the Boulevard Haussmann store for their seasonal Africa Now event and will run till 25th June 2017.
Africa Now, celebrates the creative energy of the African continent and features artists,inspired fashion and a celebratory pop-up store. Ogunbanwo responds to Lafayette’s theme with culture-inspired textiles and objects such as fishing nets, foliage, gallon cans and wax prints – all graphic depictions of the aesthetic vibrancy of Lagos, and Africa.
“It’s important to me to show a multifaceted Africa by speaking about my Africa,” Ogunbanwo says. “Drawing from the colours and vibrancy of my city serves as a metaphor for the continent, where many people, cultures and realities all mix and interweave to make one beautiful whole.”
According to WWD, the exhibition will also feature works by Joël Andrianomearisoa, a mixed-media collage and sculpture artist who lives and works between Paris and Madagascar. The store’s first-floor gallery space will host an exhibition curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi called “Le jour qui vient” which means “The Day to Come” in English, featuring painters, sculptors, photographers and video artists, who have never shown their works in France. Among them will be pieces by Igshaan Adams, a South African tapestry artist, and Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, a Nigerian-born artist based in Brooklyn, N.Y., whose drawings evoke key themes of the African diaspora by depicting characters she calls “aliens” — people with fluid geographic and cultural identities.
Africa Now is part of the retailer’s ongoing commitment to supporting contemporary art, as it gears up to open its Galeries Lafayette Foundation headquarters to the public later this year.
Africa Now is currently running until 25th June 2017 at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, 40 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, France
Creative Direction and Photography : Lakin Ogunbanwo
Styling: Oyinye Fafi Obi
Make-up: Odiri
Models: Uju Marshall, Toyin Oyeneye, Mannie Be, Gabriel Kas and Dami Oni
Production: Funmbi Ogunbanwo
Film Direction: Wale Davis and Lakin Ogunbanwo
Film Editing: Kewa Oni, Seun Opabis
Assistants: Bolaji and Uche
Source: Galeries Lafayette