Hosted by Monangambee
On Friday, 10th January 2025, G.A.S. Lagos hosted Unsettled Grounds, marking its first event of the year. Presented in collaboration with Monangambee, a nomadic Pan-African microcinema based in Lagos, and the London-based Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), with support from the British Council, this event was prompted by John Akomfrah’s work at the 2024 Venice Biennale, Listening All Night to the Rain. As one of three events held across different locations, Unsettled Grounds brought together landscape-oriented films that reflect on labor, ecology, and the afterlives of colonialism in Portugal, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. Blurring the boundaries between film and installation, each work introduced an architectural approach to cinema, laying bare the physicality of filmmaking, the camera apparatus, and the unstable grounds on which it stands.
The evening opened with an introduction from Esé Emmanuel, writer and curator at Monangambee, highlighting the vision behind the event and the themes it explores. The program featured the following short films: South Circular, Monica De Miranda, 2019, Portugal; Guardian Angel, Olukemi Lijadu, 2022, UK/Nigeria; Lagos Island, Karimah Ashadu, 2012, Nigeria; Makoko Sawmill, Karimah Ashadu, 2015, Nigeria and Plateau, Karimah Ashadu, 2022, Nigeria..
Following the screenings, Esé engaged Olukemi Lijadu, a visual and sound artist who works with moving images, philosophy and music in a discussion about her practice and the thematic focus of Guardian Angel. The conversation explored the artist’s reflections on familial memory in the wake of her grandmother’s passing, the intersections of Catholicism and Yoruba spirituality, and the tensions between these disparate worlds shaped by colonial histories. The event concluded with an open Q&A session, inviting further engagement with the themes and ideas presented.
Event Details
Date: 10th January, 2025
Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: 9b, Hakeem Dickson Drive, off TF Kuboye Road, Oniru, Lagos.
About the Speakers
Olukemi Lijadu
Olukemi Lijadu is a visual and sound artist who works with moving images, philosophy and music. Lijadu DJs under the moniker Kem Kem. She uses the power of cinema to take viewers on audio-visual journeys of reconnection across the Atlantic. Lijadu approaches music as a living archive of communal memory and lost connections - critical given the history of the Black diaspora worldwide. With heritage from Nigeria, the Caribbean and Brazil, the impetus of her artistic practice is both personal and political. Her academic training as a philosopher deeply informs her experimental approach to her expansive practice.
Headshot of Olukemi Lijadu. Image courtesy of Monangambee.
Esé Emmanuel
Esé Emmanuel (they/she) is a Nigerian writer, curator, etc. They work at the intersection of West African cultural history and Black poetics. She currently lives between Lagos and Iowa City.
Headshot of Esé Emmanuel. Image courtesy of Writing Africa.
This event was hosted by Monangambee and the London-based Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), with support from the British Council.
