PHOTOGRAPHY Mission to Dakar

Prior to arriving for the welcome press conference at Goethe Institut in Lagos in honour of six artists in residence at the Mobile Museum of Contemporary Art, the engine of the car conveying this writer to the venue stopped. It seemed impossible to catch the returning artists and their stories of adventure that evening. Fortunately, the mechanic fixed the car trouble and in about one and a half hours, it was such a joy to be part of the media team to receive these die-hard artists who embarked on a 10,000 kilometre trip to Senegal for the 13th Dakar Biennale all the way from Lagos in an old molue transit bus that had been converted to a contemporary mobile museum.

Curated by the Germany-based Nigerian artist, Emeka Udemba, the trip which lasted six weeks featured experimental artist, Monsuru Alashe; German photographer Gabriel Goller, a computer scientist from Senegal Dame Diongue; Ghanaian Sculptor Ray Agbo and Ivorian painter, Souleymane Konate.

In spite of the challenges with the journey, they arrived in Dakar in time for the Bienniale. Goller who is also a screen printer recounted how he maximized his time on board to paint and share ideas. On their stop over, he found amongst the locals, children who wanted to learn to do paintings and screen printing.

“I took pocket pictures with every one I met along the way. Between Ivory Coast and Mali, there were lots of children with tomato tins who were not in school. We interrogated them to know why they were not in school. We tried to involve them in the performance,’’ he recalled.

No doubt, the trip was an eye-opener for these artists on the socio-economic topography of West Africa. For instance, they discovered that in Ivory coast, there is a huge emphasis on agriculture- a systematically organized farming system. Whereas, Mali and Senegal, defying their harsh climatic conditions, boast of baobab trees.

When Odemba was asked why there was no female on the trip this year, he explained that two females were selected but they pulled out voluntarily for personal reasons.

“We missed not having a woman on board,’’ he said. Odemba said the journey tagged “Stretched Terrains” also stretched their arms to be open to new culture including food.

“Once you cross the border, the bread changes. After a while, it tastes good. You just have to adapt,’’ he said.

Alatise, who was in the molue’s maiden edition, recalled that in Mali, when the molue broke down, they had to beg for water to drink because they were “in the middle of nowhere’’.

“Humanity played a part. We got bananas and oranges. But in all, the trip was better than I expected. I got new tools to work with and I’m so thankful for that,’’ he said.

The Director, Goethe Institut Nigeria, Friederike Moeschel expressed her relief at seeing the successful end to the art project this year.