Tourist at Home

An elementary school in the floating town of Makoko

It has been 8 years since I checked in my blue luggage bag at the Murtala Muhammed Airport and hopped on a plane - I haven't visited since. My last memories in Nigeria were of college graduation parties, being surrounded by friends and fast cars along the Third mainland bridge as the sun peeked over the lagoon. Those memories kept reaching out to me these past years as if beckoning to be re-lived.

Over the years, I fell in love with street photography and I have been curious what it would be like to see the streets of Lagos, now, especially from a street photographers perspective.

June 2018 - Now walking around with my camera, on my first visit back to Nigeria since graduation, I was at most times euphoric, like I was a stranger, supercharged by the energy that seemed to emanate from all the Lagosians that buzzed on by. Other times, there was a strange feeling of familiarity, like I belong here but then, I felt like a fake, like I was an imposter. However, the flood of memories with each experience in every little detail - the smells, the taste of every meal, the sounds, like the cries from bus conductors and even the bumps in the road made me feel like I was walking around in the past. My past. Even more so because I felt much different than the boy who once walked those streets, yet it seemed that time hadn't moved much since I left.

Here is a taste of my experience as I capture the homeland while feeling like a tourist in a place I used to call home. This is a vlog on some of the adventures. This is where I come from. This is Lagos.