Balogun Market Series
Hands, 2017, Gif Series
Composite video portraits of Balogun Market
a version of this Project was shown as part of the HotSpotLagos initiative. An initiative asking artist to capture one of their favorite places in Lagos.
Balogun Market, much like Lagos itself, evaded capture. It is a system of constantly moving parts in constant self assemblage. The market to me seems to generate it own energy and remain in perpetuate state of being/motion. This beget the gif form of the series.
HotSpotLagos entry:
BALOGUN MARKET.
This place is bit of shock.
There's a street in downtown Lagos Island that opens up to the loudest craziest market.
There you should be able to find just about anything you could be looking for but if you can't, you can certainly get it made. Balogun is known best for its assortments of beautiful clothes and fabrics, head there if you are looking for 20 yards of Ankara to make aso ebi but be careful... You may walk out with more than you bargained for!
Balogun Market entices and it (literally) pulls you in. Before your simple fabric pick up is done, you found that you've succumb to the imploring of the market
"aunty, what of tomatoes?"
"Are you looking for dress. Check here. Ready made"
"I have films. Latest films. Best films".
“Chicken? What of Goat?”
"Why not try here?”
Take this one. Test am”… And before you know it you've walked out with those tomatoes, films, dresses, shoes, bags, some pottery, agbalomo, you've bought 3 bags of okrika, a new plate set, fresh pigs’ meat, and some tradition paraphernalia.
The sellers ingratiating is a hustle.
It's all a hustle. Masses of people pass through Balogun market everyday looking for something that they want. The market which splinters off into allies and side streets isn't always forthcoming with all that it has. Bumbling buyers made weary from the sun of the open market and dazed by the amount of ((((stuff)))) are on high alert listing and hoping for help to get them to where they need to go. The market offers a space for those who want and those who have to exchange money for fulfilment of desire, but there are those who aren’t willing and who aren’t able to pay for what they want And in that case, those once imploring hands quickly turn to snatch and seize. The bumbling buyer transforms to a mob in of angry vigilantes at a moment notice when anyone is suspected of thievery. Don't move to quick. Don't stay too long, unless you've got plenty to show. There are laws in this market, it has a it's own way of taking care of itself. The market moves, it’s has a bounce, It has a pulse.
And you have to fall in to rhythm, or you’ll find yourself bustled and pushed aside by okadas, busses, kekes, and endless mass of bodies that are moving and grooving through the market.
Balogun Market place is my spot. For me, there was only one way to shoot it. In my series of GIF, we see Balogun Market as a moving and bouncing bricolage of items and people. Loud and abrasive, subtle and stirring. It’s a place where everything is mixed and collapses onto itself but one where you can still find that special thing you needed.