A toddler on a bicycle and wealthy women in brightly colored African cloth tunics made their way past screens showing flashing infrared images of a dystopian future where simulated plants and flowers replace the real thing destroyed by climate change.
They were among hundreds of attendees at ART X, an annual trade show in Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling commercial capital, which was attended by more than 120 artists from 40 African countries and the diaspora.
The theme of the fair: “Who gathers under the baobab tree?” focused on tapping into African wisdom to tackle issues from climate change to political crises.
“We wanted to use the art and creativity to address all the challenges we saw in our society,” founder Tokini Peterside-Schwebig told Reuters.
Just after the fair, floods destroyed farmland and displaced more than a million people. Desertification has deepened conflict in Nigeria’s agriculturally rich middle belt. And elsewhere in Africa, drought has increased food insecurity.
Artists are trying to assert their cultural identity by finding African solutions, they said at the fair that closed on Sunday as African and other world leaders met in Egypt for two-week UN talks to push for a global agreement on fighting climate change.
“I think it’s really important to get a platform here at home so that people can feel first-hand your emotions, your anger and all the stories that you initially drive… before it’s exported to the outside world. ‘, says Julius Agbaje, 30, who exhibited his paintings at the fair.
Standing by her favorite piece — a giant woven design by Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor that laced plastic rosaries on lace to create images of traditional African leaders — Ify Obi, 24, said she liked most works that showcase African culture and African solutions. strengthened.
“What kind of people are we if we don’t think about the future?” she said.