30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

Uchechukwu’s photographs disrupt the status quo of images produced by those outsidelooking in. His photographs offer a view into the aspects of urban African life that are testamentto and reflect the dynamic forces at play in growing cities such as Lagos. With over 250 differentethnic groups in Nigeria, Lagos is a thriving cosmopolitan hub rich in diversity that reflectsoutwards the possibilities for the future of global urban life.Growth is always painful. It puts pressure on the established seams that hold the fabricof society together. It’s the sense of pressure that oozes out of the photographs produced byUchechukwu that makes his work so relevant to understanding the changing personal, politicaland urban landscape of cities like Lagos. It’s a pressure that demands that we turn away fromthat which has become familiar and look afresh at that which is happening. As viewers ofUchechukwu’s photographs we have to give up what we have historically been presented within terms of images from Africa. What Uchechukwu’s photographs do is locate and ground thesubject within the context of their time and space. This creates the desired sense of parity.102 2008 Prince Claus Awards