From Lagos in Nigeria to Peckham in London
UNTIL I VISITED THE SOUTH LONDON GALLERY (‘SLG’) yesterday, the 11th of October 2023, I had no idea that Peckham in south London is home to one of the UK’s largest Nigerian diasporic communities. Some even call the district ‘Little Lagos’ after the capital city of Nigeria. Until the 29th of October 2023, the SLG is hosting an exhibition of artworks, called “Lagos Peckham Repeat: Pilgrimage to the Lakes”, by Nigerian and British Nigerian artists. Lagos means ‘lakes’ in Portuguese, and the Nigerian city of Lagos developed on an area with several lakes. Part of the show is housed in the same building as the Camberwell School of Art, and the other in a nearby repurposed, former fire station, which was purchased in 2010 and donated to the SLG by the artist Raqib Shaw (born in Calcutta in 1974). The two venues are a few paces from each other, and both are well worth visiting.
The exhibition consists of photographs, videos (including an excellent one showing a woman in Nigerian clothing riding through Peckham on a black horse), sculptural assemblages, and coloured drawings. Words are inadequate to describe the imaginative exhibits, but if you are unable to visit the show, there is a good verbal summary of the artworks on https://www.southlondongallery.org/exhibitions/lagos-peckham-repeat/ . To give you some idea of the ideas that link the various works on the display, I will quote from the gallery’s guide:
“This exhibition brings together thirteen contemporary Nigerian and British-Nigerian artists to explore links between Lagos, meaning ‘lakes’ in Portuguese, and Peckham as a channel through which to address wider issues of migration. It is framed around ideas of pilgrimage, meaning journeys to a sacred or special place and, in this case, migration motivated by a search for a better life. At the heart of the exhibition is an exploration of the complexities of shifting notions of home and identity as generations of Nigerians settle in London permanently, return to Lagos, or move elsewhere.”
And I feel that this summarises the show very well. All of the exhibits are visually engaging in an exciting way, and if you bother to read the guide carefully, all of them convey the artists’ concepts with great lucidity and originality.
After seeing the show, you can obtain good refreshments in the SLG’s simple but attractive South London Louie café. The SLG also has a bookshop with many intriguing titles on offer.
