MOWAA Meets: Lagos – Unpacking Heritage as "A Living Archive"

The Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) recently hosted "MOWAA Meets: Lagos," a three-day intensive programme dedicated to exploring the dynamic relationship between cultural heritage, contemporary practice, and institutional memory. Held at The Hub at Untitled Lagos from Friday, September 26th, to Sunday, September 28th, the event was curated by Sunshine Alaibe and centred on the compelling framework of "A Living Archive."

"MOWAA Meets" functioned as an essential platform to situate MOWAA's ambitious mission—rooted in research, care, and community engagement—within the bustling context of Lagos's creative scene.

Visitors at the MOWAA Meets Opening Night | Credit: Lekan Photos

Highlights: Imprints, Archives, and Justice

The most compelling moments of the weekend were those that made the abstract idea of "archiving" physically real and collectively felt:

Stacey Ravvero's "Pressed": The participatory performance was a highlight, inviting the audience to physically engage with memory. As part of her Slow Monuments project, Ravvero had participants emboss personal objects or their own hands into clay. These imprints created a temporary, collective archive of presence, with some of the resulting pieces earmarked for a future brass casting session—a powerful connection between personal memory and traditional West African artistry.

Guests at the Curatorial Talk with Aindrea Emelife | Photo Credit: Lekan Photos

The Archivist Talk: This session, in collaboration with the resident curators of the CCA Lagos exhibition A Collective Remembering, was a critical deep dive. It openly addressed the biases and power structures inherent in cultural preservation, posing urgent questions like: "Whose memory gets preserved? How can we disrupt power within the archive? And what does archival justice look like in the African context?" By bringing the processes of cataloguing and digitisation out of institutional silence and into public view, the event democratised the discussion around cultural memory.

"MOWAA Meets: Lagos" had an immediate and significant effect by demonstrating MOWAA’s commitment to collaboration and intellectual rigour.

The decision to host this flagship event in Lagos affirmed MOWAA’s role as a networked cultural force, ensuring its Benin City campus remains deeply connected to the contemporary pulse of West Africa’s creative economy. By focusing the entire programme on the archive as a "living, political, and creative site," MOWAA actively challenged the colonial legacy of museums that treat African objects as dead specimens. The discussions, led by Alaibe, emphasised a restorative practice where heritage is something co-created by artists, scholars, and the community.

Finally, the programme, which also included interviews for the Nigerian Imaginary incubator, solidified MOWAA's ambition to be a leader in both preserving the past and fueling the future of African arts. It was a powerful statement that the institution’s ultimate strength will be built not just on the objects it holds, but on the capacity-building, critical thinking, and artistic production it supports.

In essence, "MOWAA Meets: Lagos" offered a vibrant taste of MOWAA's philosophy: that the most valuable heritage is the one that is actively being researched, debated, and reinterpreted today.

Installation Curated by Archiv'ng. discussion the relationship between Benin & Lagos