Gaelen Pinnock

I created this temporary installation for the LagosPhoto festival in 2019.

“Something to Declare” was a large sculpture that inhabited a space under Falomo bridge, linking Ikoyi and Victoria Island. For the festival, numerous artists interpreted the theme, “passports” by looking at a diverse range of subjects such as migration, heritage, identity, belonging etc. I tried to create an intimidating structure that echoes recent isolationist tendencies of nation states and the bureaucracy and alienation associated with this. The sculpture envelops a mythical, fragile core, much like the constructed identities at the heart of the nation state.

“Something to Declare” is made from a few hundred meters of bamboo, a local Nigerian construction material, the work had an imposing presence in the busy intersection.

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I wish to extend my gratitude to the organisers of LagosPhoto for inviting me to participate and helping facilitate this intervention.