Under the artistic direction of Azu Nwagbogu, the African Artists’ Foundation launches the Biennial with a focus on the role of photography in systems of confinement and resistance.
Geremew Tigabu, Push Pull. Addis Ababa, 2021. From the series Eye of the Storm, 2023. Courtesy of the artist, AAF and LagosPhoto.
After fifteen years as an international festival, LagosPhoto will now be presented in a biennial format. Opening on 25 October 2025 and running until 29 November 2025, the LagosPhoto Biennial is organised by the African Artists’ Foundation under the artistic direction of Azu Nwagbogu. The theme of this first edition is Incarceration, which examines the many visible and hidden dimensions of captivity across personal, political and collective life.
The programme spans four venues in Lagos and Ibadan, encompassing solo presentations, collaborative projects, institutional exhibitions, screenings, and talks. LagosPhoto’s expansion to Ibadan marks an important step, with works engaging with the city’s urban and architectural histories of incarceration.
Photography has historically served both as an instrument of control and as a medium of emancipation. The Biennial presents works that acknowledge this dual history, showing how image-making has been used to document oppression and colonial projects, while also recording liberation movements, cultural memory, and everyday joy. Artists featured in the Biennial explore the afterlives of trauma and displacement, the intersections of spirituality and ecology, and the role of archives in reclaiming narratives.
By adopting a biennial format, LagosPhoto creates a slower and more reflective space for research-driven projects and curatorial experimentation. The 2025 edition includes both open call selections and a curated core, with a strong emphasis on archival engagement and transnational dialogue.
The LagosPhoto Biennial runs from 25 October to 29 November 2025 across multiple venues in Lagos and Ibadan. For more information, visit lagosphotofestival.com.
