Lagos has a thriving art scene, and two very different places offer a great introduction to it: Nike Art Gallery and the Jakande Art and Craft Market.
Nike Art Gallery is one of the relatively few attractions in Lagos that feels specifically set up for international visitors. It is comfortable, welcoming and easy to navigate — and, unusually for Lagos, you can even pay with a foreign credit card. Spread across several floors, the gallery contains an enormous collection of paintings, sculpture, textiles and traditional crafts. Even if you have no intention of buying anything, it is certainly worth visiting simply to wander around and see the extraordinary range of Nigerian art on display.
However, if you actually want to buy original Nigerian art at local prices, I would head to the Jakande Art and Craft Market. Don’t expect the convenience of Nike: cash or bank transfers are the order of the day, and there certainly isn’t a foreign credit-card machine waiting for you. What you do get is row after row of small shops packed with paintings, carvings, sculptures and crafts. Large original acrylic paintings on canvas can start at around £100, and there is an astonishing amount to choose from.
What surprised me most about Jakande was that it doesn’t appear to depend on tourists. We saw virtually no other foreign visitors, yet there are dozens of traders collectively selling hundreds — probably thousands — of pieces of art. There clearly is a substantial local market for Nigerian art, something that perhaps gets overlooked when people think about Lagos.
And, of course, prices are negotiable. With plenty of sellers and considerably fewer buyers, you certainly don’t need to accept the first price you’re offered. That said, I tend to take a pragmatic approach to bargaining. I’ll negotiate a reasonable price, but I’m not going to haggle someone to death over the equivalent of a few pounds simply for the satisfaction of getting the absolute lowest possible price.
The two places complement each other rather well. Nike Art Gallery is where I’d take someone to discover Nigerian art; Jakande is where I’d take them if they wanted to buy it. Both are worth experiencing — and together they give you a much better sense of just how vibrant the art scene in Lagos really is.
