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Behind, 2008 by Anita Okoro
In this project,
Anita explores her experiences of how a specific urban environment
can trigger early childhood memories of Lagos, Nigeria. She raises
questions as to how and why these memories continue to evolve and
how they might be referenced visually.
The places documented are a mix of
recent commercial developments and local communal spaces around the
Olympic site in Stratford, East London. The project explores the complex
ambiguities at work at this location and how they impact on memory.
This conflation of place and personal history links the experiences
of urban locales in contemporary London and Lagos. In Lagos, Anita
always lived in highly secured places. However, the sense of security
was illusory. The artifacts were not only barriers but also constant
reminders of the past. These memories of walls left behind in Nigeria
have become reactivated by proximity to the evolving locale of the
Olympic site.
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