All photos by Olushola Otori, © Ndidi Dike
Ndidi Dike's exhibition State of the Nation aptly captured the ailing state of Nigeria since independence from British colonial rule in 1960. Defined by its unstable sociopolitical and economic system, Nigeria materialized in Dike's exhibition as a tragic entity where political gladiators collectively ravaged the nation's resources. Held from February 3-8, 2016, at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, Nigeria (NML), this exhibition comprised two gigantic works of assemblages mounted on the exhibiting walls of the National Museum and another two installations arranged on the open floor of the museum. Two of the mounted works on the wall reveal assemblages of disparate junk, found objects, and a rich panoply of discarded everyday elements visually emblematic of the cumulative sociopolitical and economic decadence of Nigeria since 1960. While some of the objects are mangled and distorted, others are kept in their unhampered state to...