Emeka Ogboh - No Food For Lazy Man

About

Using popular signs, symbols, quotes, anecdotes and other associations found in restaurants across Africa and Europe, Ogboh gets granular on foodflows within migrant contexts, food philosophies and cultures within migrant populations and how these are tired with hustling and survival strategies.

The works for the exhibition are inspired by lines from popular bumper stickers on buses, signs and quotes found in restaurants across Sub-Saharan Africa, especially Lagos Nigeria, and the general philosophies of African immigrants living in Europe as explored through food.

The exhibition’s title and its point of departure is from the famous Lagos quote/philosophy ‘no food for lazy man’ ("Lazy man no dey chop for Lagos"), that basically describes this hustle for better opportunities and dreams of making it, which pushes most migrants to relocate to Europe. And this would be explored using diverse media forms, including sound, photography, texts, food, and road signs amongst others.

For the exhibition, Ogboh launches his (in collaboration with Vagabund Brewery) new locally brewed beer titled Original Suffer Head Beer. The recipe for Original Sufferhead Beer is based on a Q&A series with African migrants living in Germany.

Furthermore, as part of the opening of the exhibition NO FOOD FOR LAZY MAN there will be a participatory food installation Mama Put – a nomadic cook, who will cook on this evening for visitors in the gallery.