In Wetin You Go Do?

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In Wetin You Go Do?
– Title of an installation at the Tate Modern, created by Nigerian born Otobong Nkanga

The title of Nkanga’s piece, when translated from Nigerian Pidgin, an English-based Creole language widely spoken across Nigeria, is ‘What are you going to do?’. ‘In Wetin You Go Do’ integrates voice and sculpture to reflect on contemporary anxieties.

The theme of anxiety stitched a ragged thread through the time I spent lingering in the Tate Modern after my early morning arrival in London. Or perhaps, when visiting a gallery such as this, the feelings we have, that we bring in through the door, colour the way we see the exhibits, determine the way we select what to linger with and what to pass on by?

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shard (revisited)

Image | | andy townend

Do you mean to tell me that you’re thinking seriously of building that way, when and if you are an architect?
– Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Back in August last year, I shared a series of photos of The Shard, shot with my Nikon D700 and Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 D lens.

Yesterday, equipped with my Fujifilm X100F with its fixed 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent), I made these images.

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chewing gum man

Image | | andy townend

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
– W B Yeats

I like to contribute to the weekly photo challenge hosted by WordPress and must confess I hadn’t quite found inspiration for this week’s prompt, which frankly is quite unusual for me, which seems apposite as this week’s theme was indeed unusual.

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vans

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Having arrived at Heathrow this morning on a red-eye from Lagos, and finding myself unable to check in to my hotel for several hours, I took to the streets like any other self-respecting homeless person, by which I mean no disrespect to actual homeless persons, it is of course no laughing matter.

I had two main goals, one was to find breakfast (which I did, and I must have looked particularly hungry as an additional slice of bacon was added to my bacon roll and coffee), and the other, that was to walk along the South Bank to the Tate Modern. My plan being to spend six hours or so in quiet artistic contemplation, before the hotel would throw open its portals (or at least activate a smart card) to me and my battered luggage.

I also had the foresight to bring my camera with me, my Fujifilm X100F, which has now has become my constant travelling companion.

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bridge

Image | | andy townend

Any fact becomes important when it’s connected to another
― Umberto Eco, Foucault’s Pendulum

behind the razor wire
behind the airlocked double gates

conscience, nurtured by truth

guardian, meet guardian

behind the rhetoric
behind the clamour

a bridge between my reality, and home

for WordPress weekly photo challenge – bridge

grenfell

Aside | | andy townend

we will remember them
those (we) forgot
until, too late
for them

we will remember them
who died, under a plume that stained
our sky
and
our, complacency

we will remember them
and their
righteous, anger
against our
failure

we will, remember them

won’t we?

poetry101rehab – grenfell

usoro uso

| andy townend

A celebration of creativity in Akwa Ibom, over on nigeriastreets

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Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and often referred to as the ‘Giant of Africa’, is a Federal Republic made up of 36 States.

Akwa Ibom, located on the coastal southern part of the country in the ‘South South’ sits between Cross Rivers State and Rivers State. Created in 1987, from the former Cross River State, Akwa Ibom is home to over five million people.

The State capital is Uyo with a population of around half a million.

This week, I was lucky enough to be part of a group visiting the Usoro Uso art exhibition, a celebration of contemporary Nigerian arts and craft featuring some outstanding work from artists of Akwa Ibom.

The exhibition opened on 8 June 2017 and is on display at the Ibibio Union Museum, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The exhibition is slated to close on 22 June, 2017 so, if you are visiting…

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seven weddings

| andy townend

‘Seven weddings’, last week, over on nigeriastreets, more to come soon from my travels in Nigeria.

andy townend's avatarnigeriastreets

Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls
– Khalil Gibran

Today, I attended seven weddings.

Well, not intentionally. I was invited to one, and found myself inadvertently attending seven. Which, incidentally, brings my weekly tally to eight weddings in two continents in the last week.

And that wasn’t the only surprise of the day.

The wedding was that of a colleague and friend here in Abuja, where I have been living and working over the last six months. The time has flown by.

To be invited to a colleague’s wedding was an immense privilege. And, perhaps, we really only get to know a culture by seeing how people are hatched, matched and dispatched?

Well, I can’t comment…

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Heritage

Image | | andy townend

‘Call me (call me) on the line
Call me, call me any, anytime’

Call me – Blondie

For WordPress weekly photo challenge – heritage

*Shot near Chiswick Park underground station, Fujifilm X100F with fixed 23mm lens at ISO200 , 1/400s and f/5.6*

Remember a time? A time before mobiles, the internet? Remember when the only way to call, was this?