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'''Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographers Organization''' is an artist-led initiative founded in 2009. The initiative started as a collective led by [[Emeka Okereke]] alongside his colleagues, inspired by a road trip experience to [[Bamako]] from [[Lagos]] for the '''8th edition of the Bamako Encounters Festival of Photography.''' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.contemporaryand.com/place/invisible-borders-trans-african-photographic-initiative-2/|title=Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographic Initiative {{!}} Contemporary And|website=www.contemporaryand.com|language=de|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> It operates as a non-profit organization providing a platform for artists (mostly photographers) to express their commitment to shaping the socio-political narrative of nations across [[Africa]]. This is achieved by establishing local, national and international relationships between [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa|African countries]] and countries in other continents.
'''Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographers Organization''' is an artist-led initiative founded in 2009. The initiative started as a collective led by [[Emeka Okereke]] alongside his colleagues, inspired by a road trip experience to [[Bamako]] from [[Lagos]] for the '''8th edition of the Bamako Encounters Festival of Photography.''' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.contemporaryand.com/place/invisible-borders-trans-african-photographic-initiative-2/|title=Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographic Initiative {{!}} Contemporary And|website=www.contemporaryand.com|language=de|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref>


{{Infobox non-profit
{{Infobox non-profit
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| membership_year = 2009
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The mission of the organization is to influence the socio-political landscape of Africa by building a network of indigenous talents who are committed to initiating conversations that shape the narrative about the defining realities across countries in Africa through [[photography]] and other artistic interventions.<ref> {{Cite web|url=https://www.art-agenda.com/announcements/187748/n-a|title=Invisible Borders Trans-African Photography Initiative: Invisible Borders|last=|first=|date=|website=art-agenda|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-12-13}} </ref> The organization hosts a community of artists, photographers, administrators, and writers and their projects have been featured on [[CNN]] and [[Le Monde]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2015/09/09/a-la-biennale-de-venise-des-artistes-africains-sur-les-routes-du-continent_4750039_3212.html|title=At the Venice Biennale, African artists on the roads of the continent|last=Azimi|first=Roxana|date=9 September 2015|website=Le Monde Afrique|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> The organization is mostly recognized for its annual Trans-African Road Trip, a project that began in 2009. The collection of works produced from the Trans-African road trips have been featured by [[CNN]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/artists-road-trip-africa-invisible-borders/index.html|title=Road trip through Africa's 'invisible borders'|last=Kermeliotis|first=Teo|date=2013-07-24|website=CNN Travel|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> [[Al Jazeera]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/artscape/2013/04/2013421133119858694.html|title=Emeka Okereke: Invisible Borders|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref> [[The New York Times|New York Times]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/arts/design/the-ungovernables-2012-new-museum-triennial.html|title=‘The Ungovernables: 2012 New Museum Triennial’|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=2012-02-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Creative Time]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://creativetime.org/summit/author/invisible-borders/|title=ctadmin, Author at The Creative Time Summit|website=creativetime.org|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref> [[The Wall Street Journal|The Wall street Journal]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/three-standout-exhibits-at-the-venice-biennale-1431029613|title=Three Standout Exhibits at the Venice Biennale|last=Auld|first=Tim|website=WSJ|access-date=2019-09-10}}</ref> and other media platforms locally and internationally. The success of the trips led to public exhibitions, art workshops, conferences and publications in places such as Khartoum, N'Djamena, Accra, Dakar, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, New York, The 56th Venice Biennale,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://universes.art/en/venice-biennale/2015/tour/all-the-worlds-futures-2/invisible-borders|title=Invisible Borders: A Trans-African Worldspace. All the World's Futures: Arsenale - 2|last=|first=|date=|website=Universes in Universe|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> Poland and The National museum of Modern Arts, Georges-Pompidou centre, Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/emeka-okereke-46?v=1|title=Emeka Okereke : contemporary Nigerian Photographer - Singulart|website=www.singulart.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref>
The organization is mostly recognized for its annual Trans-African Road Trip, a project that began in 2009. The collection of works produced from the Trans-African road trips have been featured by [[CNN]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/artists-road-trip-africa-invisible-borders/index.html|title=Road trip through Africa's 'invisible borders'|last=Kermeliotis|first=Teo|date=2013-07-24|website=CNN Travel|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref> [[Al Jazeera]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/artscape/2013/04/2013421133119858694.html|title=Emeka Okereke: Invisible Borders|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref> [[The New York Times|New York Times]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/arts/design/the-ungovernables-2012-new-museum-triennial.html|title=‘The Ungovernables: 2012 New Museum Triennial’|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=2012-02-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Creative Time]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://creativetime.org/summit/author/invisible-borders/|title=ctadmin, Author at The Creative Time Summit|website=creativetime.org|access-date=2019-09-11}}</ref> [[The Wall Street Journal|The Wall street Journal]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/three-standout-exhibits-at-the-venice-biennale-1431029613|title=Three Standout Exhibits at the Venice Biennale|last=Auld|first=Tim|website=WSJ|access-date=2019-09-10}}</ref> and other media platforms locally and internationally. The success of the trips led to public exhibitions, art workshops, conferences and publications in places such as Khartoum, N'Djamena, Accra, Dakar, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, New York, The 56th Venice Biennale,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://universes.art/en/venice-biennale/2015/tour/all-the-worlds-futures-2/invisible-borders|title=Invisible Borders: A Trans-African Worldspace. All the World's Futures: Arsenale - 2|last=|first=|date=|website=Universes in Universe|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> Poland and The National museum of Modern Arts, Georges-Pompidou centre, Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/emeka-okereke-46?v=1|title=Emeka Okereke : contemporary Nigerian Photographer - Singulart|website=www.singulart.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref>


In 2015, Invisible borders was listed by Foreign Policy as part of the 100 leading global thinkers .<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2015globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com/|title=The Leading Global Thinkers of 2015 - Foreign Policy|website=2015globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref>
In 2015, Invisible borders was listed by Foreign Policy as part of the 100 leading global thinkers .<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2015globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com/|title=The Leading Global Thinkers of 2015 - Foreign Policy|website=2015globalthinkers.foreignpolicy.com|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref>

Revision as of 08:53, 6 February 2020

  • Comment: In addition to the promotional material, several sources in this article are flat-out falsifications. For example, this one, from Nature ([1]) is entitled "Invisible Borders" but is about UK immigration policy and does not say a word about this organization, and this one ([2]), while also mentioning "borders", is about historical European immigration and again does not mention this organization. Seraphimblade Talk to me 02:09, 4 December 2019 (UTC)
  • Comment: I have moved this article to draft as it is not ready for the mainspace yet, and escaped the AfC process without review. The main issues are sourcing and promotion. Too many of the sources are not independent of the subject. And the tone is overly promotional, meaning it does not adhere to a neutral point of view. The partners and affiliates section is also unnecessary in my view. Captain Eek Edits Ho Cap'n!⚓ 07:43, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographers Organization is an artist-led initiative founded in 2009. The initiative started as a collective led by Emeka Okereke alongside his colleagues, inspired by a road trip experience to Bamako from Lagos for the 8th edition of the Bamako Encounters Festival of Photography. [1]

Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographers Organization
NicknameInvisible Borders
FormationNovember, 2009
FounderEmeka Okereke
Founded atLagos, Nigeria
TypeCollective, Non-Profit Organization
PurposeTo provide a platform for artists across Africa to deploy artistic interventions as the bridge for trans-border relations and storytelling about the dynamic realities across Africa and its interactions with other continents.
Membership (2009)
Uche James-Iroha, Nike Adesuyi-Ojeikere, Lucy Azubuike, Unoma Giese, Amaize Ojeikere, Charles Okereke, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Uche Okpa-Iroha, Chriss Aghana Nwobu
Websitehttp://invisible-borders.com

The organization is mostly recognized for its annual Trans-African Road Trip, a project that began in 2009. The collection of works produced from the Trans-African road trips have been featured by CNN,[2] Al Jazeera,[3] New York Times,[4] Creative Time,[5] The Wall street Journal[6] and other media platforms locally and internationally. The success of the trips led to public exhibitions, art workshops, conferences and publications in places such as Khartoum, N'Djamena, Accra, Dakar, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, New York, The 56th Venice Biennale,[7] Poland and The National museum of Modern Arts, Georges-Pompidou centre, Paris.[8]

In 2015, Invisible borders was listed by Foreign Policy as part of the 100 leading global thinkers .[9]

Background

Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographers Organization started as a mobilization challenge to Bamako, proposed by Nigerian photographer; Emeka Okereke, to a group of colleagues in 2009. This challenge was inspired by his expedition from Lagos to Aba, with Ray-Daniels Okeugo.[10] Founding members of the group, Emeka Okereke and Uche Okpa-Iroha had received invitation to the 8th edition of the Bamako Photography Encounters at the Bamako Biennale with Air France tickets offered by the organizers but, Emeka Okereke suggested that the tickets should be returned in exchange for money to travel over land instead, as an adventure to explore the theme of the festival – “Borders”. [11][12][13] The challenge became a dare within the group, whose members; Uche James Iroha, Lucy Azubuike, Emeka Okereke, Amaize Ojeikere, Uche Okpa Iroha, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Unoma Giese, Chriss Nwobu, Nike Ojeikere and Charles Okereke,[14] became the maiden development of the trip into a Trans-African project. The group agreed to document their experiences through a series of photos and literary works. They traveled in a black Volkswagen Mini bus rented from Photo Garage in Lagos, christened “Black Maria”[15] which was figuratively the first script of the journey to Bamako, as they headed East of Lagos on to the coastal expressway toward neighboring Benin and journeyed through Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso.[11]

The Trans-African Road Trip project has become a yearly endeavor of The Invisible Borders Organization executed as a Trans-African photographic adventure of artists exploring and participating in various events, festivals and exhibitions collectively while sharing their independent daily encounters with the environment and the people across the continent.[16] The project, which started off as a quest into the possibilities of the road trip through the borders separating Lagos and Bamako, sparked the realization of the challenges these borders represent and its inhibiting effect on the African reality and psyche. The leaders of the mission of the projects lay emphasis on redefining Africa beyond the geographical locations and physical borders that exist on the continent by spending extensive periods on often dangerous African roads, meeting new people and embracing the hospitality provided across cultures while also experiencing challenges like odd meets with thieves, dealings with custom officials and the arguments with thugs at the motor park. The group has also been arrested before, once detained in N'Djamena for about 8 hours during one of their trips for taking unauthorized photos.

In 2013, a featured documentary was hosted by Al Jazeera, about the 3rd Invisible borders TransAfrican Road Trip.[17] The May Abdalla film captured the highlights of events of the trip from Lagos and back. while exploring the creative processes behind the team's adventures collectively and individually as members of the group sought to find their own story as a contribution to the mission of the trip. The project which was initially routed for Lubumashi, DRC was re-routed to Libreville, Gabon due to challenges borne from the rainy season and its consequences on the road. The coverage of these dire straits became an opportunity for mentorship within the group as shown between Emeka Okereke and Lilian Novo, who was having her first attempt at art photography through the trip.[18]

Artistic form

The most employed artistic form by the Invisible borders Trans-African Initiative is Photography. The expanding scope of projects led to the adoption of other forms, mediums and disciplines such as Literature, Videography, Film, Performance art, public space interventions and other projects.[19]

Invisible Borders Trans-African Project

The Trans-African Road Trip project has been executed nearly each year since 2009, to grow a network of African artists. Members of a group of artists, photographers and writers go on a road trip to initiate conversations between African artists about the question of borders and its influence on the realities across countries, combining art forms such as writing, filmmaking and photography. The Invisible borders Trans-African Initiative hosted 8 editions of the Trans-African projects between 2009 and 2019 across over 20 countries in Africa but, also between Africa and Europe in 2014,[20] involving artistes from countries such as Ghana, Sudan, Chad, Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Mauritania, Egypt, Mali, South Africa and Nigeria.

Invisible Borders Trans-African Road Trip Projects
Year Theme Participants Routes Dates Duration
2009 Lagos – Bamako Nike Adesuyi-Ojeikere, Lucy Azubuike, Unoma Giese, Uche James-Iroha, Amaize Ojeikere, Uche Okpa-Iroha, Charles Okereke, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Chriss Aghana Nwobu, Emeka Okereke Lagos, Republic of Benin, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso

3rd November - 18th November

16 days
2010 Lagos – Dakar Chidinma Nnorum, Chriss Aghana Nwobu, Uche Okpa-Iroha, Amaize Ojeikere, Unoma Geise, Lucy Azubuike, Charles Okereke, Uche James-Iroha, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Emeka Okereke Lagos, Cotonou, Lomé, Accra, Abidjan, Bamako, Dakar

23rd April - 18th May

26 Days
2011 Lagos – Addis Ababa Jumoke Sanwo, Emeka Okereke, Kemi-Akin Nibosun, Nana Offoriatta Ayim, Ala Kheir, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Emmanuel Iduma, Tom Saater[21] Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia November 2nd - December 16th 45 Days
2012 Lagos – Libreville Emeka Okereke, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Lilian Novo Isioro, Lesedi Mogoathle, Christian Nyampeta, Mario Macilau, Gloyer Matala Evita, Jide Odukoya, Emmanuel Iduma and Landry Mbassi Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon August 23rd - October 9th 54 Days
2014 Lagos – Sarajevo Heba Amin, Emmanuel Iduma, Angus MacKinnon, Renee Mboya, Lindokuhle Nkosi, Emeka Okereke, Dawit L. Petros, Tom Saater, Breeze Yoko Lagos, Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali,Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Bosnia June 2nd - October 31st 151 Days
2016 BORDERS WITHIN: A Trans-Nigerian Road Trip Emeka Okereke, Zaynab O. Odunsi, Uche Okonkwo, Yinka Elujoba, Yagazie Emezi, Emmanuel Iduma, Eloghosa Osunde, Innocent Ekejiuba, Ellen Kondowe Benin, Warri, Asaba, Enugu, Umuahia, Port Harcourt, Aba, Calabar, Makurdi, Yola, Maiduguri, Kano, Lokoja, Osogbo, Abeokuta May 12th - June 16 46 Days
2017 BORDERS WITHIN II: A Trans-Nigerian Road Trip Amara Nicole Okolo, Emeka Okereke, Kechi Nomu, Yinka Elujoba, James Bekenawei, Kenechukwu Nwatu, Nengi Nelson, Innocent Ekejiuba, Kemi Falodun Lagos, Ibadan, Ilorin, Minna, Sokoto, Zaria, Bauchi, Jos, Lafia, Afikpo, Yenagoa, Akure, Lagos October 8th - November 16th 34 Days
2018 Lagos – Maputo Batch A: Wilfried Nakeu, Tope Salaudeen-Adégòke, Pamela Tulizo Kamale, Kenechukwu Nwatu, Barbara Wanjari, Innocent Ekejiuba, Emeka Okereke.

Batch B: Katleho Kano Shoro, M’hammed Kilito, Lare Sam-Deola, Delphine Wil, Innocent Ekejiuba, Emeka Okereke

Enugu, Yaoundé, Garoua-Boulaï, Bangui, Bukavu, Kigali, Kazembe, Kampala, Lusaka, Harare, Mutare, Maxixe. August 20th - November 23rd 95 days

1st Edition: Lagos – Bamako 2009

The flagship edition of the road trip, themed: “The Invisible Borders”, was organized by the founding members of the collective; Emeka Okereke and Uche Opka-Iroha, with other members of the group. It held between November 3rd and November 18 and featured a road trip to Bamako, Mali with stops in Benin, Ghana, Togo and Burkina Faso.[22] The trip started from Lagos, Nigeria through Cotonou, Lomé, Accra, Hamile, Bobo-Dioullasso and finally Bamako.The curation of works was a recount of the ordeal experienced by the group during the trip to the Festival of Photography in Bamako, Mali. The concluding highlight of the trip was the Grand Prix Seydou Keïta Prize won by Uche Okpa-Iroha for images from his Under Bridge Life project in 2008.[23]

2nd Edition: Lagos – Dakar 2010

The second edition was a journey from Lagos to Dakar, the Senegalese capital city for "Dak'Art - Biennale de l'Art Africain Contemporain"; a visual arts Dakar biennial held between May and June.[24] Departing through the trans–West Africa coastal highway, the road trip included visits to Cotonou, Lomé, Accra, and Abidjan, before detouring inland to Bamako, bypassing states of Liberia and Sierra Leone. One of the memorable events of the project was the recount of the engagement with three Nigerian women food vendors at Diéma, who had opened up a streetside eatery after being abandoned by a smuggler.[25]

3rd Edition: Lagos – Addis Ababa 2011

The 3rd Edition of the Trans-African Road trip project lasted from November 2 to December 16, 2011. It hosted 12 participants — 10 photographers and 2 writers — traveling from Lagos to Addis Ababa to curate stories that reveal the realities across borders and network with other indigenous artistes within the communities they engage. This edition sought to explore the issues pertaining to women’s rights,[26] identity through dressing and style, conflicts and their reflections on the sociopolitical and socioeconomic landscape across the trip route through Abuja, Jos, Maiduguri, Kousséri, N'Djamena, Khartoum and finally Addis Ababa. The group traveled from Lagos to Addis Ababa through Chad and Sudan.[27]

4th Edition: Lagos – Libreville 2012[28]

In 2012, The 4th edition of the TransAfrican Road trip was scheduled to be from the August 23rd to the October 9th, 2012. The 49-day road trip, which was initially developed to be implemented from Lagos to Lubumbashi in Congo was re-routed to Libreville in Gabon for reasons of time restraint caused by travel challenges because, members were stuck in the mud while traveling along an unpaved road in Ekok, Mamfe, toward Cameroon. Participants in this edition are Emeka Okereke, Ray-Daniels Okeugo, Lilian Novo Isioro, Lesedi Mogoathle (South Africa), Christian Nyampeta (Rwanda), Mario Macilau (Mozambique), Gloyer Matala Evita (Equatorial Guinea), Jide Odukoya, Emmanuel Iduma and Landry Mbassi (Cameroon).

5th Edition: Lagos – Sarajevo 2014[29][30]

The 2014 road trip was the first transcontinental edition of the Trans-African project. The team involved spent four months, journeying through 21 countries from Lagos, into Europe including controversial migration routes from Morocco into Spain, via the Strait of Gibraltar, and on to Sarajevo in Bosnia which produced works that have been exhibited for projects like “Cosmopolis #1: Collective Intelligence”.[31] The team was made up of 9 artists from 5 countries in which were Heba Amin (Egypt), Emmanuel Iduma, Angus MacKinnon (South Africa), Renee Mboya (Kenya), Lindokuhle Nkosi (South Africa), Emeka Okereke, Dawit L. Petros (Eritrea), Tom Saater and Breeze Yoko (South Africa).[32]

6th Edition: BORDERS WITHIN: A Trans-Nigerian Road Trip 2016[33]

The 6th Edition of invisible borders adopted an intrinsic approach to exploring the project's objectives. The 6th Edition was the initiation of an Intra-national Trans-African project developed to initiate conversations about the socio-cultural and socio-economic nature of different groups within a nation [34]. The first project themed “The Borders Within- A Trans-Nigerian Road trip", was hosted from May 12 to June 2016 to explore the idea of the Nigerian Identity. The road trip project spanned traveling from Lagos through Benin, Warri, Asaba, Enugu, Umuahia, Port-Harcourt, Makurdi, Yola, Maiduguri, Kano, Lokoja, Oshogbo and Abeokuta.

The aim of the project was to illuminate some of the ambiguities of contemporary Nigerian life. The group consisted of seven artists (three photographers, one filmmaker, and three writers) and three administrators. This trip was featured on a podcast themed “The Roadside Intellectuals” which recounted the experiences from the trip through interviews and conversations[35].

7th Edition: BORDERS WITHIN II: A Trans-Nigerian Road Trip 2017[36]

In the 7th edition, a team of ten participants comprising Amara Nicole Okolo, Emeka Okereke, Kechi Nomu, Yinka Elujoba, James Bekenawei, Kenechukwu Nwatu, Nengi Nelson, Innocent Ekejiuba and Kemi Falodun, sought to further explore the concept of the Borders within. The project was themed "Borders within II: The second trans-Nigerian road trip" and lasted for 34 days from October 8th to November 16th as a direct sequel to the 6th edition[37] The group's focus over 34 days was to portray the diversity of the cultures spread across Nigeria and the cultural borders inhibiting its contribution to the collective desire for growth and progress.

8th Edition: Lagos – Maputo 2018

In 2018, the Lagos to Maputo trip was hosted as the 8th edition of the invisible Borders Trans-African project between Nigeria and Mozambique within a period of 95 days between August 20th and November 23rd. The project focused on uncovering the consequences of change and its transition from the past to the present through images. This was a visual introspection into the post-colonial outlook of people in Africa with the Bantu people as reference.

The participants were batched (Batch A: August 20 – October 9, Batch B: October 6 – November 23) between trips from Lagos to Kampala and Kampala to Maputo as the project scope involved routes from Enugu through Yaounde, Garoua-Boulaï, Bangui, Bukavu, Kigali, Kamembe, Kampala, Lusaka, Harare, Mutare and Maxixe. The participants were Wilfried Nakeu, Tope Salaudeen-Adégòke, Pamela Tulizo Kamale (DRC), Kenechukwu Nwatu, Barbara Wanjari (Kenya), Innocent Ekejiuba, Emeka Okereke, Kay Ugwuede, Wilfred Nakeu (Cameroon). The initial group of 12 members for the first batch of the trip was reduced to 7 when 5 participants dropped from the trip at Abuja. The trip of the second batch of participants hasn't been initiated as planned.

Exhibitions and awards

The Trans-African Road Trip project has evolved into a platform for talent acquisition, mentorship and exchange through workshops, conferences and exhibitions which were organized after the trips held at Bamako (2009), Lagos (2009 and 2010), Abuja (2010), Dakar (2010), Addis Ababa (2010), Bern Museum Switzerland (2010), Berlin (April 2011) and New York (2012). The third Edition of the Invisible Borders’ Trans-African Project garnered international attention and earned an inclusion to the New Museum’s 2012 Triennial [38]. In 2015, the Trans-African project was exhibited at the Venice Biennale [39] while the works from the Trans-African project from 2018 were enlisted in the 2019 Africologne festival Cologne, Germany.

Between 2009 and 2018, countries reached through the Invisible Borders project are Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso , Republic of Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Gabon, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Switzerland, Italy, United kingdom, Belgium, USA while the number of artists reached through the projects by participation and collaboration is 160 artists in Africa.[40]

The Invisible Borders Trans-African Photography Organisation has produced bodies of work from the Trans-African Road Trips that have been exhibited and awarded at the following platforms:

Year Exhibition/Workshop Presentation Awards
2019
  • Exhibition/Workshop project; N'Gola Biennal of Arts and Culture, São Tomé (July)[41][42]
  • Exhibition at Africologne, Cologne, Germany: A Volatile Negotiation between the Past and Present (June)[43][44]
  • Exhibition: Re-imaging Futures: A Trans-Nigerian Conversation, Ebute-Metta, Lagos[45][46]
  • 2nd Chennai Photo Biennale, Chennai India[47]
2018
  • Presentation at Kigali Photography Centre, Kigali
  • Presentation at Ah Bon Hein Cultural Centre, Yaoundé (October)
2017
  • Museum of Modern Arts – Georges Pompidou Centre, Paris[48][49]
  • Bunkier Sztuki’s Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cracow, Poland[50]
  • Photography Museum of Amsterdam (FOAM)[51][52]
  • Aperture Foundation, New York “Collective Thinking, For Freedoms”[53]
  • Von-Brochowski-Süd-Nord-Stiftung, Berlin (Germany)[54]
2016
  • Unseen Photo Fair & Festival Amsterdam[55][56]
2015
  • 56th Venice Biennale of Arts “All The Worlds Futures”[57][58]
  • Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark[59][60]
2014
  • Hopes & Impediments, Prince Claus Exhibition, Amsterdam (2014)[61][62]
  • Invisible borders in Marzahn: Refracted visions and stories told through a wide lens (October)[63][64]
2013
  • Accra Project, 1st Photo Public space Exhibition in Accra[65]
  • Invisible Borders A N’DJamena – Institut Francais Tchad, (June)[66][67]
2012
  • The African Union Centre Addis Ababa (December)
  • New Museum of New York (February)[68][69]
  • Creative Time Summit, New York (October)[70]
  • Institut Français Prize Biennale Benin in Cotonou (Republic of Benin) 2012[71][72]
2011
  • Savvy Contemporary Berlin (April 2011)[73][74]
2010
  • World Festival of Black Arts, Dakar, Senegal (December)
  • Fine Art Museum of Bern, Switzerland (October)[75]
  • Ecowas Centre Abuja, Nigeria (Nov. 2010)
  • The Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos, Nigeria (September).


The Invisible Borders Projects

Chapbooks by Invisible Borders

The collection of works produced by the Invisible Borders Trans-African Projects have been published as chapbooks. These chapbooks are a compilation of essays developed during the trips to provide a literary experience of the events and experiences attributed to the trips, published into a collection of 10 works.[76] In 2016, the first series of chapbooks were produced and made available for distribution and have been exhibited with other collection of works from the Trans-African trips. The 3 chapbooks published in 2016 are What the Road Offers by Uche Okonkwo, Collective Truth by Yinka Elujoba, and Lives That Enter Mine by Emmanuel Iduma. Between 2017 and 2019, 4 chapbooks were published from the 7th edition of the trip and 3 other chapbooks were published from the 8th edition of the trip in 2018.

References

  1. ^ "Invisible Borders Trans-African Photographic Initiative | Contemporary And". www.contemporaryand.com (in German). Retrieved 2019-09-05.
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