As part of the Nigerian Alternative Heritages project, a French Embassy Fund programme, IFRA-Nigeria began a collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos (CCA) at the beginning of 2026. Its main goal was to digitize, make accessible and valorise the CCA archives.
The digitisation process began in February, though the launch event “Institutional Memory and the Dynamics of Agency in Contemporary (Art) Archives” took place on 24 April.
In an effort to not only conserve, but also highlight these collections, IFRA-Nigeria and the CCA organised the “Archives in Practice” workshop on 22 and 23 May 2026. Eight artists and researchers were invited to use the archives to propose works that bring together art and research. Over these two days, the participants not only discovered the digitised archives but also held discussions on the nature of archives, including debating the characterization of private archives as “counter-archives” or “alternative” as opposed to the State’s “colonial archives.” This workshop was mediated by Amanda Madumere, Curating Archivist, and included interventions by CCA Curator Mary Omoregie and IFRA-Nigeria Director Dr Pauline Guinard.
Visitor observing the serigraphy “Bisi: My Archive Shows Me” by Paul Ayihawa
The closing event of the IFRA-Nigeria – CCA collaboration took place on 31 May, on the theme “Medium as Time Encounter with the CCA, Lagos Archive.” The following productions of the selected participants were exhibited:
- A collage “Doing the Same Thing Differently” by Blessing Bulus
- A serigraphy “Bisi: My Archive Shows Me” by Paul Ayihawa
- A collage “What was, What is, What has and What will” by Oluyomi Akinnagbe
- A zine “Moderns and the Visionary Modernist” by Ugo Anna Ude
- A video presentation “18 Years Later, Bisi Silva’s Critique of Nigerian Contemporary Art Remains Valid” by Tomiwa Adegbola
- A poetry and video presentation “Little Acts of Charity” by Ololade Lawal
FEF Coordinator Michael Awoyemi
The event also featured a panel of some of the key actors of the digitisation project to reflect on its different stages. Moderated by FEF Coordinator Michael Awoyemi, panelists included Mr Bennett Njoku, the website Designer, Amanda Madumere and Mary Omoregie, Curator.
The second panel, moderated by Amanda Madumere, featured the artists, researchers and writers whose propositions were exhibited. The objective of the panel was to reflect on the “Archive in Practice” Workshop, their process and their choice of medium to respond to the assignment. The closing remark was given by CCA Curator Mary Omoregie.
Some of the CCA archives