Always with photos and camera in tow

Nigerian artist and photographer Nseabasi Akpan was our guest at the end of April. In his luggage was a large collection of photographs by himself and artist friends he had met along the way. This resulted in a pop-up photo exhibition in our bunker on Rietzer Berg.

For three days, visitors were able to visit the exhibition and talk to him about the perspectives of people in Africa. Because Nseabasi always establishes a connection to his photo subjects, learns about their lives and talks about them. With his photos, he aims to educate, entertain and draw attention to social grievances in order to give a voice to people who are otherwise not heard.

In his home country, he teaches young people how to express themselves through art and to show them that they can build a life with a craft or art and stay in their home country instead of fleeing to Europe in search of a better life. The exhibition, the great conversations and the contacts with the local people were very enriching for him.

Inspiration to take home

During his stay at the Hermitage, Nseabasi particularly enjoyed the landscape park with its view of the meadows and farmland. For the artist from Nigeria, this was all new territory, the way we cultivate our fields, grow our vegetables and use only organic fertilizer. He will definitely take that home with him as inspiration.

He will use the pictures he took during his time here with us for the illustrated book he is currently working on and for a photo competition. After 1.5 weeks, his journey takes him to Amsterdam, where he also lives in an artist residence and initiates the next exhibition.