Spanning 10 days, the city of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole, was held spellbound with the debut of a novel addition to the yearly arts calendar, the +234 Arts Fair, an event which promoted the best of the best in Nigeria’s contemporary art scene.

The first of its kind, dedicated to everything arts and creativity, kicked off on March 22 and ended on Sunday, March 31 and was held on the purpose-built 3,800-square-metre Ecobank Pan-African Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. The fair brought together over two hundred artists and thousands of art lovers under one roof, where almost a thousand art works were on magnificent display, over the course of 10 days.

Flying with the theme, Nigeria: A New Heritage, the fair offered every artistic experience available; from paintings to sculpted works to photography, handcrafted materials and objects, a children’s art section, art related activities like sip and paint and so on. Working with six curators, Eyimofe Ideh (fine art curation); Tracian Meikle (programmes); Ugochukwu Emebiriodo (Photography) and Arinola Olowoporoku, (lead curator who also doubled as lead for the sculpture exhibits), they brought the vision of the fair to life.

Boasting not just artworks alone, the fair also had a series of art-related workshops, masterclasses and panel discussions, featuring the best minds in the art and creative world. With a vibrant mix of emerging artists taken from all over Nigeria, art lovers and attendees were not left disappointed with the quality and quantity of works on display.

Soto Gallery, in partnership with Ecobank Nigeria, Leadway Insurance and the African Finance Corporation (AFC), said the fair was put together to showcase and nurture young talents as well as create new vistas of opportunities for them.

Founder, Soto Gallery and founder of the +234 Art Fair, Tola Akerele, said the opportunity to showcase more artists is always a welcome one and the partnership with Ecobank made this possible. Speaking on continuity for the artists, she said they are in talks with them on what more galleries can do to make this possible, including residency programmes and grants.

“Apart from just showcasing art, this is an opportunity to help them know what else they can do locally, regionally and internationally. A lot of artists we have worked with in the past now have strong international careers and this gives us joy.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Project Director of the fair, Toyin Laoshe, said the artists were selected fairly from across Nigeria. “They were then pruned to about 200 artists from different sectors, fine art, sculpture, photography and digital art. We want to see these artists become the future guiding lights of the art world, locally and internationally. We thank our sponsors, who helped in bringing this together together and helped bring this vision to life.”

Lead curator, Arinola Olowoporoku, said the fair is for emerging ideas, about and for Nigerian artists and Nigerians; “even tenured artists trying out new ideas or narratives, everyone is welcome. There are multiple offerings for different demographics, including a children’s gallery, life painting, interactive works, live performances and authors.”

She added that the reward for many artists is the fact that the fair is holding on a huge scale and exhibiting on such a platform can grow their career significantly. “As a collective, exhibiting here increases the economic value of their works and our market, as well as create visibility and awareness for the artists.”

On how the artists were selected, the lead curator said there was an open call and selections were made. “I worked with six curators and we picked them with our theme in mind. The fair’s founder, Tola Akerele, is a brilliant and fantastic woman and she keeps taking bold leaps. This has been a humbling and learning process for us and we are thankful to all our sponsors, especially Ecobank, who deemed the arts worthy of such a massive investment.”

On longevity for the artists, Olowoporoku said Soto Gallery has over time, consistently developed and supported artists and the fair provides a window into the big world.

Ephraim Damilola “ED” Adegoke, an exhibiting artist who said his art is figurative expressionism, said the art form allows him put together many forms of art and express himself in different ways. “I am happy with the turnout and how the works are arranged, people are positively and actively engaging with the artworks; it is clear the essence of the fair is being realised,” he said.

Ugo Ahiakwo, a sculptor exhibiting at the fair, described his art as post-minimal and said his inspiration comes from everyday living and seemingly mundane things. “Beyond making sales, it has been wonderful to connect with other sculptors. When people think of art in Nigeria, they only think of painting. Sculptors are often overlooked and this fair has provided the opportunity to meet more sculptors and expose our works to collectors,” he said.

Olowoporoku said beyond this fair, they intend to expose the artists to more exhibitions. “We are hoping to have more editions like this in the future as well as other new showcases to accommodate more emerging artists,” she said.

Akerele also added that with the fair, they are also trying to create an ecosystem where patrons can support an artist through the course of their career. “The government can support us by creating more fairs across the country for artists all over the country.

This is a much-needed platform for artists. There are so many artists that have no access to international markets and we want to create a sort of database of artists, whose work can stand in international galleries.”

She said they intend to do bigger things in the coming years and expose more of Nigeria’s creativity to the world.