A selection of work from the 2011 Lagos Photo Festival by forty photographers from around the world. (Click on “captions” at the bottom right of the frame to learn more about each photo.)

When most people think about photography festivals, they think about the south of France, or New York, or maybe London—not Lagos, Nigeria. But that’s changing. The second Lagos Photo Festival took place in October and November at the city’s Eko Hotel and featured world-renowned photographers like South African winner of the World Press Award Jodi Bieber, members of photo agencies like VII and Panos, as well as many Nigerian photographers and other photographers from and working in Africa. Focused on the theme “What’s Next Africa?” curator Marc Prust sought out work that challenged perceptions and looked forward.

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The African Artists’ Foundation in collaboration with the European National Institute for Culture presented the second edition of the Lagos Photography Festival (LagosPhoto) in October 2011. Following the inaugural event in October 2010, and as part of an ongoing project designed to use art intervention in public spaces, this year’s theme, “What’s Next Africa?” aimed to use the power of photography to represent the hidden stories on the continent as opposed to the over-represented, sensationalized images of Africa popular across the globe.

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