This is What Hatred Did

In the sixties the village of a 5 year old Nigerian kid , was attacked by soldiers. His mother had left him home alone and he had to run away escaping the bombs and the fire. He saved his life entering the Bush, a magical territory where no humans are allowed and where all the Yoruba spirits live and fight. Our kid spent 30 years lost in the Bush trying to find his way back home amongst the spirits and the dead. He got married two times, became a king, a god and a slave, a cow, a jar, a horse, a goat, ate gold, silver and bronze, snakes and snails, he fought 2 wars and was sentenced to death half a dozen times... all that in just 100 pages. The famous Nigerian writer, Amos Tutuola wrote My life in the bush of ghosts, in 1964 and then had to leave the country to escape the violent reactions to a book that would open in the exilium, a new path for contemporary African narrative. The story is told by the 5 year old kid in a very basic, direct, naive and repetitive style that only children master, but manages to convey the magical and absurd reality that war and religion added to the Nigerian reality. The series This is what hatred did (this title is derived from the mysterious last sentence of the book) aims to provide an illustrated contemporary version of this story adapting the characters, the space and the ambient to the actual situation of the country. The Bush is now the Lagosian neighborhood of Makoko, a floating slum in Lagos, with its own rules, commanded by kings and community leaders. A place where no logic seems to prevail and that is equally forbidden for those who do not belong. With the conviction that contemporary issues should be described in a way that includes the ancient traditions, perspectives, fears and hopes, this series documents the enhanced reality of one of the most iconic places in Nigeria according to the always dramatic media. This is what hatred did has been published in amongst others M le mag (Le Monde FR) and Time magazine’s Lightbox. Recent exhibitions include Imagine Reality at Ray 2015 in Frankfurt and Photo España in Madrid. In the fall of 2015 This is what hatred did, can be seen in New York, Johannesburg, Toronto and Tokyo. The book of the series will be published in the fall of 2015 by RM in collaboration with the Archive of Modern Conflict.