It was such an honour, such a joy to host Sokari Douglas Camp. She did confirm that it was her first artist talk ever in Nigeria. Wow!!! I am happy that it was at CCA, Lagos because our professional relationship and friendship goes back nearly 20 years. It also makes us realise the big disconnect between artists here and those in the diaspora. The audience was smaller than it should have been as many people have already gone on holidays but those who made the incredibly brave effort (yes getting through the Lagos traffic in the last week before christmas is no mean feat) to attend were extremely excited to engage with her. As some of the pictures show her talk was very engaging and very performative and captivating. The big novelty was that for the first time time it seemed all the lecturers from YabaTech came out in full force for the talk. I was totally gobsmacked. It seems that Sokari has a big fan base at Yabatech. hmmmm interesting need to find the roots of that. ok ok before my dear friends think i have it in for them. In fact the contrary, because finally and visibly Yabatech is opening up tremendously and Sokari had invitation coming from all corners to come back and do a workshop and talk to the students. That will be fantastic. The warm reception took her back quite a bit as she says that she only ever passes through Lagos. The funniest part of her talk was the beginning when for the first 5 -10 mins she was giving us the background context to what is happening in Nigeria. Then she paused briefly and said sorry to be giving this information but I am usually giving lectures to people who don’t know much about Nigeria. This may seem slight but it is an important point because it highlights the need for us to talk to/with each other -not at each other – more often. As the year comes to an end, I hope the New Year begins where we left off, talking to each other. Thanks Sokari.
Photos by Jude Anogwih
