Award-winning photographer Namsa Leuba points to her Swiss Guinean heritage as inspiration for a practice that takes her around the globe making images that she calls ‘documentary fictions.’ A standout in Aperture’s eye-poppingly vibrant show of fashion-related photography, ‘The New Black Vanguard,’ curated by Antwaun Sargent, Leuba’s work illustrates the show’s desire to show off ‘new perspectives…on race and beauty, gender and power.’ (On view in Chelsea through Jan 18th).
Inspired by women’s lives in her parent’s native Nigeria, US born artist Wuru-Natasha Ogunji’s considers the daily task of carrying water in her video, ‘Will I still carry water when I am a dead woman?’ Featuring several masked women walking the residential streets of Lagos dragging gold-colored water containers, viewers witness the toll exacted on the bodies of the exhausted and drenched participants. (On view at Fridman Gallery through Oct 12th).
How do people manage to live in the world’s biggest cities? Dutch photojournalist Martin Roemers set out to answer this question in ‘Metropolis,’ a series that took him around the world to cities with populations of ten million or more. Roemer discovered that to survive is to focus on the details of everyday life, as he does in this colorful market in Lagos. (On view at Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side through April 26th).
