Lagosphoto Festival Announces 2025 Biennial Edition | Unveiling Hidden Forms Of Confinement Through Photography

Presented by the African Artists’ Foundation, this bi-annual transition reaffirms the festival’s commitment to actively nurture and support the artistic community, presenting and educating about photography as a tool for restorative discourse on historical and contemporary issues.

Building on its successful geographical expansion to Benin in 2023, LagosPhoto Festival — an international photography event hosted by Lagos-based art hub African Artists' Foundation (AAF) — inaugurates a new biennial format. This shift reflects a commitment to creating a more impactful and inclusive experience, supporting its artistic community through workshops, seminars and educational platforms to develop their work. Scheduled for 2025, the festival's 15th edition and inaugural run as a biennial, will host exhibitions, workshops, large-scale installations, and panel talks around the theme ‘Incarceration’, unveiling photographic works that unravel the many layers of confinement and prompt a critical reflection on the visible and invisible forces that limit human freedom and expression in today’s world.

Exploring various dimensions of incarceration, the theme will uncover the commonly understood physical imprisonment as well as the pernicious complexities of intellectual, psychological, and social confinement. As Azu Nwagbogu, Artistic Director, explains: “While traditional notions of imprisonment conjure images of cells and sentences, this theme explores the less obvious forms of captivity that pervade contemporary society.” In the digital age, society is further confined by the panopticon monitoring influence of social media and its constant surveillance which shapes perceptions, attitudes and new social norms. From intellectual entrapment in outdated beliefs, to the incarceration of identity through labels and narratives, and isolating architectural and national boundaries, the edition will feature artists whose visual narratives defy these repressions offering a powerful reflection on present realities while imagining bold visions of a liberated future.

Committed to giving space to young and new curatorial voices, the curatorial team will consist of curators living across Africa. Announced later this year during the pedagogical programming, the team will have the opportunity to both collaborate and work independently under Nwagbogu’s guidance, shaping the vision and narrative of the biennial.

In anticipation of its inaugural biennial, LagosPhoto Festival announces an open call for artists working with lens- based media to submit their portfolios to participate in a series of workshops and curatorial mentorship sessions in November and December 2024. The programming will focus on the biennial’s theme, aiming to equip participants with the skills and insights needed to create compelling works on this critical topic. Among the participants, the festival will commission five artists to develop original pieces specifically for the 15th edition and its theme.

Launched in 2010, LagosPhoto is an international photography festival presented Nigeria. In a month-long festival, events include exhibitions, workshops, artist presentations, discussions, and large-scale outdoor prints displayed throughout the city with the aim of reclaiming public spaces and engaging the general public with multifaceted stories of Africa. LagosPhoto aims to establish a community for contemporary photography which unites local and international artists through images that encapsulate individual experiences and identities from across all of Africa. As the festival transitions into a biennial, it reaffirms its commitment to actively nurture and support the artistic community, presenting and educating about photography as a tool for restorative discourse on historical and contemporary issues.