Marilyn Nance: Last Day in Lagos

by Julie Mehretu (Foreword), Marilyn Nance (Photographer), Antawan I. Byrd (Contributor)

A focused study on a singular African American photographer, through an archival encounter with her documentation of the landmark FESTAC’77 festival From January 15 to February 12, 1977, more than 15,000 artists, intellectuals and performers from 55 nations worldwide gathered in Lagos, Nigeria, for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, also known as FESTAC’77. Taking place in the heyday of Nigeria’s oil wealth and following the African continent’s potent decade of decolonization, FESTAC’77 was the peak of Pan-Africanist expression. Among the musicians, writers, artists and cultural leaders in attendance were Ellsworth Ausby, Milford Graves, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Samella Lewis, Audre Lorde, Winnie Owens, Miriam Makeba, Valerie Maynard, Queen Mother Moore and Sun Ra.
While serving as the photographer for the US contingent of the North American delegation, Brooklyn-based photographer Marilyn Nance made more than 1,500 images throughout the course of the festival―one of the most comprehensive photographic accounts of FESTAC’77. Drawing from Nance’s extensive archive, most of which has never before been published, Last Day in Lagos chronicles the exuberant intensity and sociopolitical significance of this extraordinary event.
Over the course of five decades, Marilyn Nance (born 1953) has produced images of unique moments in the cultural history of the US and the African Diaspora. Nance is a two-time finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Award in Humanistic Photography. Her work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Congress, and has been published in The World History of Photography , History of Women in Photography and The Black Photographers Annual . She lives in New York.

Genres: Photography

300 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2022

Reviews

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was beautiful. Essential reading to capture a moment that has long been ignored/disappeared in history. I especially appreciated the interviews with Nance at the beginning, and the gorgeous essays throughout the book that really gave context to her incredible images. There was a sense of intimacy in every photograph, and I could see Nance's passion for covering the every day moments, the moments others might miss. I especially enjoyed learning that she basically talked her way into going and didn't give up! Fought her way in...she was cut at first. Imagine if she hadn't persisted? As she says, she never takes no for an answer. My favorite quote from Nance came at the beginning:

"A good photograph is good communication. In some ways when looking at my own work, I see that I was in the crowd. I was part of the whole thing. I don't call it capturing an image. I don't call the people in front of me my subjects. We have to check that language that we use around photography. I don't shoot, I make images. I'm so much a part of the images that I make, that I become invisible, which is quite a good thing and quite a bad thing, depending on how you look at it."

[J Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"You’ll see traditional djembe drummers flanked by a procession from Algiers which, in turn, gives way to Sun Ra and his Arkestra. You’ll see groups of women in bright, patterned wrap dresses and artisans displaying traditional wooden statues as well as stacks and stacks of supplies. You’ll see music galore, from homemade kalimbas to Stevie Wonder playing the drums, baritone sax and lots and lots of dancing. You can practically hear the pulse and chatter of hundreds of different tongues, practically feel the strong Nigerian sun beating down on the crown of your head as you flip through Nance’s “gigantic family album.” When you hold this book in your hands, for a moment, it’s as if you’d been there yourself."

Absolutely gorgeous photography book and art document of photojournalist Marilyn Nance's photos of FESTAC '77, the largest Pan-African gathering and celebration anywhere, ever, up to that point.

Read my full review at Specrum Culture: https://spectrumculture.com/2023/03/3...