Learning from Lagos: Lessons from the Megalopolis’s Growing Art Scene

When the Lagos Biennial debuted in 2017 at a railway terminal, there was a sense that the event was remarkable for the way it captured the do-for-self disposition of Nigerian artists, who’d been starved for years of institutional support. Directed by the artist Folakunle Oshun, the mood of that edition was makeshift—with scant concern for charting easy paths to navigate a weed-strewn place, or for presenting artworks with any kind of pristine veneer.Oshun’s choice of an unconve