Invisible Borders activities in the framework of the 12th Bamako Photography Biennale: Workshop, Public Space Intervention, Multimedia Exhibition, Presentation, Talks

Overview

The politics of borders continues to take newer shapes and forms as government policies, conflict and militancy displace millions of people across the globe. Still, there is a growing desire from one side of the continent to the other to make permeable, these stark dividing lines increasingly impacting interactions across them as the ideals and benefits of pan Africanism become more appealing and economically attractive to governments and individuals alike. Since 2009, the Invisible Borders Trans African Photography Organisation has continued to traverse the continent deepening understanding of its borders through lived experiences and remarkable encounters using mediums of photography, literature and film. The organisation’s work is strongly rooted in a desire to, one one hand; experience and document stories, culture, intimate encounters, the poetry of presence and journeying across borders via roads; and on the other hand; to shift predominant narratives about Africa away from traditional media reportage which are so often filtered through coloured or narrow lenses intended to fit preconceived prototypes and tropes.

In 2018, the Invisible Borders Trans African Photography Organisation embarked on the 8th Edition of its Trans-African Road Trip from Lagos, Nigeria to Maputo, Mozambique. Intended to take place in two batches, the first set of artists—photographers, writers and filmmakers—travelled from Lagos, Nigeria through Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo ending in Kigali, Rwanda. The 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip was premised on two phrases drawn from the conceptual premise of the road trip: “volatile negotiations between past and present” and “I am where I think”.

The former speaks to the historicity of the Lagos to Maputo trans-African highway and the politics of movement along that path while the latter speaks to the thread which runs through the road trips year after year: the body, not only as a vessel of presence and movement but also an active thinking tool wherever it is positioned on the road.

In the 45days the artists journeyed, these guiding phrases served as grounding anchors alongside personal themes, albeit loosely adhered to, which informed the works they created on the road largely from premeditated and mostly chance encounters and interactions. Photographer and filmmaker, Kenechukwu Nwatu went in search of musical encounters seeking to what extent it is a derivative of spirituality. Writer, Tope Salaudeen-Adegoke wandered into many markets searching for stories at the pulse of daily transactions especially from women. Emeka Okereke had, as a guiding theme, “Dream Chamber”—a photographic body of work aimed at articulating something of “the ground shifting under our feet” in the process of border renegotiations and reconfigurations taking place in various forms and scales across the continent. Writer, Kay Ugwuede, went into the road questioning, as a path to understanding the differences which result from demarcations of any kind.

Some of these works are going to be up for viewing in a multimedia exhibition during the course of the Bamako Festival.

In addition to the multimedia exhibition featuring a non-linear film of the Lagos-Maputo Road Trip, images and text from a dedicated blog where artists shared their work on the road, the Invisible Borders will also host a 10-day workshop prior to the opening of the festival and involving up to 10 writers, photographers and filmmakers in Bamako; and a public space exhibition of photographs and texts from the In
visible Borders archive.

The 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip is ongoing. The Batch B and final leg of the trip is scheduled to continue at a later date, and so, this component of our exhibition will take the form of a work in progress.


Kay Ugwuede
Adjunct Head of Publication,
Invisible Borders Trans-African Photography Organisation

Participants of the 10-days Invisible Borders Workshop.
Day two of the IB Bamako Encounters Masterclass is a done deal! We were able to round up our in-depth introduction of each other. We are more or less “settled” into each other. Key thought today: we must create a space (within ourselves) where we can think freely and be free. That’s a space of artistic creation whose value outweighs immediately/short term monetary rewards. Tomorrow we dive headlong into discuss photography and the many aspects/constructs of visual language. La deuxième journée de la Masterclass IB Rencontre Bamako est terminée! Nous avons pu arrondir notre profond introduction les uns des autres. Nous sommes plus ou moins «installés» l'un dans l'autre. Le penser d’aujourd'hui: nous devons créer un espace (en nous-même) où nous pouvons penser librement et être libre. C’est un espace de création artistique dont la valeur dépasse les avantages monétaires immédiats / à court terme. . Demain, nous nous plongerons dans la discussion sur la photographie et les nombreux aspects / constructions du langage visuel.
The 2nd phase of our Bamako Encounters intervention: A public space “poster” exhibition. We have made 72 A0-sized posters consisting of images and excerpts of writings from the Trans-African Road Trip, excerpts of thought-experiences from ten years of traversing borders of many African countries and beyond. We hope to put them up in 8 different areas in the city in a cluster of 9 posters per area. Our first attempt to put up the posters has been inspiring and encouraging to say the least. The people — men, women, girls, boys, children from different works of life — engaged, at close range, with the content even as we mounted the posters. We had help and unforced hospitality from the community, even from the youngest of them. It was not work, it was being together.
A map indicating the locations of our poster exhibition across areas in Bamako. We have 63 of them mounted across 4 out of 6 districts of Bamako. These are rain, dust and sun proof posters. If they are not torn out by some enthusiastic kids 😀, they will likely be there for more than 3 months, and in good condition. So if you are in Bamako and would like to see them. There you go!
If the windows on the buildings are for looking out. The posters in between them are windows for looking in.
If the windows on the buildings are for looking out. The posters in between them are windows for looking in.
If the windows on the buildings are for looking out. The posters in between them are windows for looking in.
If the windows on the buildings are for looking out. The posters in between them are windows for looking in.
The phase 3 of the Invisible Borders presence at the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters: An immersive triptych multimedia installation consisting of images, text and a 55-minutes long film from the 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip. The multimedia installation can be seen at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers, one of the sites of 12th Bamako Photography Biennale.
The 3rd phase of the Invisible Borders presence at the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters: An immersive triptych multimedia installation consisting of images, text and a 55-minutes long film from the 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip. The multimedia installation can be seen at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers, one of the sites of 12th Bamako Photography Biennale.
The 3rd phase of the Invisible Borders presence at the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters: An immersive triptych multimedia installation consisting of images, text and a 55-minutes long film from the 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip. The multimedia installation can be seen at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers, one of the sites of 12th Bamako Photography Biennale.
The 3rd phase of the Invisible Borders presence at the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters: An immersive triptych multimedia installation consisting of images, text and a 55-minutes long film from the 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip. The multimedia installation can be seen at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers, one of the sites of 12th Bamako Photography Biennale.
The 3rd phase of the Invisible Borders presence at the 12th edition of the Bamako Encounters: An immersive triptych multimedia installation consisting of images, text and a 55-minutes long film from the 2018 Lagos-Maputo Road Trip. The multimedia installation can be seen at the Conservatoire Des Arts et Metiers, one of the sites of 12th Bamako Photography Biennale.
Phase 4: We got to present the outcome of the 10 days workshop (and other activities that kept us busy throughout our time in Bamako) at this beautiful space – Cinema Medina Koura. The audience was a mix of international artists/visitors of the biennale and locals from Medina Koura where the Cinema is situated. Works from the following participants were on display: Salih Basheer, Obasola Bamigbola, Annie Risemberg, El Junio, Kayode Oluwa, David Dosunmu, Hamdia Traoré.
Phase 4: We got to present the outcome of the 10 days workshop (and other activities that kept us busy throughout our time in Bamako) at this beautiful space – Cinema Medina Koura. The audience was a mix of international artists/visitors of the biennale and locals from Medina Koura where the Cinema is situated. Works from the following participants were on display: Salih Basheer, Obasola Bamigbola, Annie Risemberg, El Junio, Kayode Oluwa, David Dosunmu, Hamdia Traoré.
Phase 4: We got to present the outcome of the 10 days workshop (and other activities that kept us busy throughout our time in Bamako) at this beautiful space – Cinema Medina Koura. The audience was a mix of international artists/visitors of the biennale and locals from Medina Koura where the Cinema is situated. Works from the following participants were on display: Salih Basheer, Obasola Bamigbola, Annie Risemberg, El Junio, Kayode Oluwa, David Dosunmu, Hamdia Traoré.