Bildersturm

About The Book

Last Day in Lagos is a focused study on a singular African American photographer, through an archival encounter with her documentation of the landmark FESTAC’77 festival.

From January 15 to February 12, 1977, more than 15,000 artists, intellectuals and performers from 55 nations worldwide gathered in Lagos, Nigeria, for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, also known as FESTAC’77. Taking place in the heyday of Nigeria’s oil wealth and following the African continent’s potent decade of decolonization, FESTAC’77 was the peak of Pan-Africanist expression.

While serving as the photographer for the US contingent of the North American delegation, Brooklyn-based photographer Marilyn Nance made more than 1,500 images throughout the course of the festival—one of the most comprehensive photographic accounts of FESTAC’77. Drawing from Nance’s extensive archive, most of which has never before been published, Last Day in Lagos chronicles the exuberant intensity and sociopolitical significance of this extraordinary event. Publisher’s Info

-> Further information: https://cara-nyc.org/publications/last-day-in-lagos or https://fourthwallbooks.com/product/marilyn-nance-last-day-lagos/

About The Artist

Marilyn Nance has produced photographs of unique moments in the cultural history of the U.S. and the African Diaspora, culminating in an archive of images of late 20th century African American life. A 2020 Arts Matters Grant recipient, Nance is a two-time finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Award in Humanistic Photography. Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), and the Library of Congress.

Oluremi C. Onabanjo is a curator and scholar of photography and the Arts of Africa. She works at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), as an Associate Curator in the Department of Photography. The former Director of Exhibitions and Collections for The Walther Collection, she has organized exhibitions across Africa, Europe, and North America, and managed one of the most significant private collections of photography in the world.

Header Photo: Distinguished Elder Queen Mother Audley A. Moore at Lagos airport. In the background are artists Charlotte Richardson-Ka ( L ) and Wadsworth Jarrell ( R ) © Marilyn Nance / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.