{"id":1860,"date":"2023-05-29T14:21:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T06:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?p=1860"},"modified":"2023-05-29T14:21:25","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T06:21:25","slug":"momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/","title":{"rendered":"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art<\/a>\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography<\/a>\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent. Here\u2019s the good news: the latest \u201cNew Photography\u201d show brings an end to that losing streak. Finally, a \u201cNew Photography\u201d with signs of life.<\/p>\n

For the first time ever, \u201cNew Photography\u201d has a geographic purview. All the photographers included this time have ties to the Nigerian city of Lagos, otherwise known to Yoruba speakers as \u00c8k\u00f3. That alone would make it notable, since MoMA has rarely given African art, and in particular African photography, the spotlight.<\/p>\n

But the art itself matches the ambitions of the show\u2019s curator, Oluremi C. Onabanjo, who is challenging what it really means for photography to document a city, let alone the people who reside in it. She has made the wise choice to go with just seven artists, a much smaller group than the past two editions of \u201cNew Photography.\u201d Doing so allows her to dive deeper into their practices, each of which finds intriguing ways to pay homage to Lagos\u2019s citizenry and history, by means both conceptual and other. Guiding all the artists\u2019 explorations is a fascination with photography itself as a medium\u2014what it does, whom it\u2019s for, and what it can reveal.<\/p>\n

Logo Oluwamuyiwa, the strongest of these artists, trains his lens on the streets of Lagos, which he sometimes photographs using oblique angles that distort his images beyond recognition.\u00a0Oil Wonders II<\/em>\u00a0(2018) features an upside-down shot of two standing people, their feet visible at the bottom. Look above them to see a puddle reflecting their upper halves. He literally reorients our view of Lagos, then does it again and again in an array of prints, vinyl wallpapers, and films shown nearby.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>
Logo Oluwamuyiwa,\u00a0Oil Wonders II<\/em>, from \u201cMonochrome Lagos,\u201d 2018.<\/span>\u00a9LOGO OLUWAMUYIWA\/COURTESY THE ARTIST<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Oluwamuyiwa\u2019s lush black-and-white photography finds a neat corollary in the work of Akinbode Akinbiyi, an artist roughly half a century older. Working in a mode that\u2019s likewise devoid of color, Akinbiyi turns his attention to Bar Beach, a seaside locale popular at one time with Lagosians. These photos act as records of what once was, with women lounging, men running, and, in one quaint image, a dog slumbering, seemingly unaware of the bathers around it.<\/p>\n

Akinbiyi started this series, \u201cSea Never Dry<\/a>,\u201d in 1982, a little over a decade after the Nigerian Civil War ended. His works are serene, mellow, and dreamy, and so too, are most of the works in this show. But the churning forces of history are still palpable, even in the cases where evidence of them isn\u2019t always visible.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Two<\/div>\n<\/div>
Akinbode Akinbiyi,\u00a0Bar Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos<\/em>, from the series \u201cSea Never Dry,\u201d 2006.<\/span>\u00a9AKINBODE AKINBIYI\/COURTESY THE ARTIST<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Some of Amanda Iheme\u2019s photographs seem at first glance to be archival documentation\u2014they appear to be straightforward pictures of vintage cassette tapes, yellowed public transit tickets, and decaying buildings. Yet pictures such as these represent history that is being lost, especially in the eyes of people who can\u2019t see the erosion taking place.<\/p>\n

One of Iheme\u2019s photographs from 2015 features the Casa de Fernandez, a structure built in the 19th century by formerly enslaved people, beneath a sunny sky. It stands unassumingly, its walls streaked with signs of age. The year after Iheme took this picture, the building was demolished under mysterious circumstances. Now, Iheme\u2019s photograph stands as proof that it existed at all.<\/p>\n

The past is a fragile thing, a fact underscored by the thin, vulnerable chiffon that Abraham Oghobase uses in his installation\u00a0Constructed Realities<\/em>\u00a0(2019\u201322). These pieces of silk are printed with centuries-old British texts about \u201cprimitive tribes\u201d and the mining of coal in Nigeria; they are then placed atop re-photographed images from the colonial period. Some of those pictures have portions removed, so that the people in them appear to slip away, leaving behind ghostly half-presences.<\/p>\n

Similar specters appear in images collected by Karl Ohiri, whose Lagos Studios Archives project has involved amassing old studio portraits and representing them in their damaged state. Many of Ohiri\u2019s scanned and re-photographed images have lost the battle to time\u2014they bloom with unnatural bruise-like splotches and have turned different hues. In their current state, they contain their own haunted beauty. They pair nicely with works by Kelani Abass, whose family\u2019s pictures from decades past are used as raw material for her own work, which sets these snapshots into letterpresses.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>
Karl Ohiri, Untitled, from \u201cThe Archive of Becoming,\u201d 2015\u2013.<\/span>\u00a9KARL OHIRI\/COURTESY THE ARTIST<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

There\u2019s only one artist here who contributes what\u2019s conventionally understood as documentary photography: Yagazie Emezi<\/a>, a photojournalist whose work has appeared in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0TIME<\/em>. She\u2019s showing works that capture protests against police brutality held in 2020 as part of the #EndSARS movement. These are invigorating pictures that take viewers into the streets, with one featuring a woman who stoically walks between rows of cars while waving a flag.<\/p>\n

But the more effective works are the ones which find less obvious routes into Lagos\u2019s roads. In these photographers\u2019 hands, these avenues lead not only to the rest of the city but to the whole of Nigeria\u2014and, ultimately, to many other faraway places.<\/p>\n

This much is implicit in Oluwamuyiwa\u2019s\u00a0Lagos Hosts<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(2014), a shot of the backside of a dusty bus. Its title comes from a sign in its window: \u201cLAGOS HOSTS THE WORLD<\/a>.\u201d Oluwamuyiwa has printed this shot as a poster that MoMA visitors can take home for free. Hold on to one of Oluwamuyiwa\u2019s posters, cherish it, and let the influence of this Nigerian hub wind its way into the place you call home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.artnews.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent. Here\u2019s the good news: the latest \u201cNew Photography\u201d show brings an end to that losing streak. Finally, a \u201cNew Photography\u201d with signs of life. For the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nMoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Investable Art Auctioneer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MoMAs-Sharp-\u2018New-Photography-Show-Returns-with-a-Focus-on-Lagos-\u2013-A_-www.artnews.com_.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"965\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"836\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chloe Nicholls\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chloe Nicholls\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/\",\"name\":\"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/8970f67f73afbf7d021dbf09ccb32744\"},\"description\":\"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/\",\"name\":\"Investable Art Auctioneer\",\"description\":\"Atelier Auction\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/8970f67f73afbf7d021dbf09ccb32744\",\"name\":\"Chloe Nicholls\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17de1bd86f8b21c51e6105f410fd264e72dda3abc6429dc91326e1a0ab2c365c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17de1bd86f8b21c51e6105f410fd264e72dda3abc6429dc91326e1a0ab2c365c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chloe Nicholls\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/author\/chloe-nicholls\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer","description":"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer","og_description":"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/","og_site_name":"Investable Art Auctioneer","article_published_time":"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":965,"height":836,"url":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MoMAs-Sharp-\u2018New-Photography-Show-Returns-with-a-Focus-on-Lagos-\u2013-A_-www.artnews.com_.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chloe Nicholls","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chloe Nicholls","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/","url":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/","name":"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos - Investable Art Auctioneer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-29T06:21:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/8970f67f73afbf7d021dbf09ccb32744"},"description":"Despite their authoritative-sounding titles, recent editions of the\u00a0Museum of Modern Art\u2019s recurring \u201cNew Photography\u201d series have grown especially diffuse\u2014too conceptual and too slippery to really make a dent.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/uncategorized\/momas-new-photography-show-returns-sharper-than-before-with-a-focus-on-lagos\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MoMA\u2019s \u2018New Photography\u2019 Show Returns, Sharper than Before, with a Focus on Lagos"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/","name":"Investable Art Auctioneer","description":"Atelier Auction","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/8970f67f73afbf7d021dbf09ccb32744","name":"Chloe Nicholls","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17de1bd86f8b21c51e6105f410fd264e72dda3abc6429dc91326e1a0ab2c365c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/17de1bd86f8b21c51e6105f410fd264e72dda3abc6429dc91326e1a0ab2c365c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chloe Nicholls"},"url":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/author\/chloe-nicholls\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1862,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions\/1862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}