Nº 001 · Lagos
1950–now
A museum of Nigeria’s creative memory
Photography, music, fashion and design, stitched into the map of Nigeria city by city. Every knot is a story: tap one to walk into its room, or tap anywhere on the map to stitch your own memory there.
Hover to look closer · click a knot to enter · click anywhere to stitchHold to look closer · tap a knot to enter · tap anywhere to stitch
1959
In 1959 Taiwo Akinkunmi, a student in London, answered a newspaper call for designs for the flag of the new nation. His green-white-green, for the land and for peace, was raised on 1 October 1960.
Source · BusinessDay ↗1968
J.D. ʻOkhai Ojeikere began his Hairstyles series in 1968, photographing braided and threaded hair from behind so that each style reads as sculpture. The series grew into one of the largest records of Nigerian style.
1974
A young Lemi Ghariokwu showed Fela a portrait he had drawn, and Fela asked him to design his record sleeves. Lemi’s covers gave Afrobeat a look as loud and political as its sound.
Source · OkayAfrica ↗1982
King Sunny Adé’s Juju Music, released on Island Records in 1982, carried juju’s talking drums and pedal steel guitar to audiences across Europe and North America.
Source · Wikipedia ↗2010
LagosPhoto, founded by Azu Nwagbogu and the African Artists’ Foundation, opened in 2010 as Nigeria’s first international photography festival, with pictures shown across the city as well as in galleries.
Source · Wikipedia ↗2011
Omoyemi Akerele founded Lagos Fashion Week in 2011, giving Nigerian designers a runway at home and bringing international buyers and press to Lagos.
Source · Wikipedia ↗2021
Burna Boy’s Twice as Tall won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album in 2021, a landmark moment for Afrobeats on the world stage.
Source · GRAMMY.com ↗ARCHIVE is a fictional digital museum of Nigeria’s creative history. Four threads follow photography, music, fashion and design from 1950 to now, and every visitor can stitch a memory into the cloth.
Milestones and gold knots come from the sources below. Round knots and sample stitches are invented to show how visitor memories work. The photographs of Lagos and of J.D. ʻOkhai Ojeikere’s Hairstyles are archive pictures shown for this study. Visitors can pin their own photos to any memory.
The rooms and the door are AI-generated images, made with Dreamina and modelled on a real museum in Abuja that the curator visited.
Or tap any empty square on the cloth to choose where it goes.
What this is
Your memory becomes a knot on the map of Nigeria, sewn into the city where it happened.
Pick a spool
Music thread · records, songs, parties, sound systems
Where it happened + photo, optional
We’ll take you to the map and sew it into your city.
A museum of Nigeria’s creative memory · Lagos
Scroll to walk in ↓Photography, music, fashion and design, woven into one cloth.
The carved doors are open.
Four threads leave the tapestry for four wings. Pick a wing, or walk the tapestry.
Rooms of the museum
Follow one thread