Lagos Is a Vortex of Vitality

The British Nigerian photographer Ollie Babajide Tikare took word of these features, capturing every day Lagos in his current e-book, “Èkó,” a collage of scenes and portraits from the town, taken from 2023 to 2025. A number of of the images are taken in media res: individuals strolling in a market, venders transferring via visitors with their wares, a person wading into the blue-green waters of Tarkwa Bay, a putting picture of a person framed by bushes and a tall constructing, straddling a bicycle whereas he’s on the telephone. Each Lagosian has a distinct model of the town, from water-based shantytowns to opulent housing estates. However they’re all united by the town’s streets. The eccentricities of a metropolis outline it; in Lagos, transportation is certainly one of them. There are individuals who stroll to get round, and others who board minibuses known as danfos which observe particular routes via the town. To get to their locations extra rapidly and cheaply, some Lagosians get on the backs of okadas, or bike taxis. Tikare images one resident resting his arm via the window of a bright-yellow danfo; one other is caught within the rearview mirror of his automotive as he drives.

Lagos’s type is displayed via these images, too: the simple confidence with which residents put on daring outfits and hair kinds. A male clothier wears denims which can be intentionally torn and patched with printed materials; one other man has low blond curls. Lagosians’ sartorial experimentation and reverence for occasion-attire rival these of any style capital; it’s a spot the place you possibly can by no means be accused of being overdressed. Tikare images a girl taking a relaxation from promoting snacks on the road, clothed in a sublime skirted outfit in a standard orange and brown print, paired with flip-flops; and one other lady who may very well be on an out of doors break from her store job, in a pencil skirt and tailor-made shirt. Tikare continues via Lagos, stopping on the legendary night time membership the New Afrika Shrine to seize Femi Kuti performing; on the seaside to {photograph} younger individuals at play; and within the streets to take heat, pure portraits of scholars and older individuals surrounded by inexperienced foliage and color-saturated partitions.