PRESS RELEASE MILAN FASHION WEEK

LAGOS SPACE PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM PROJECT 5 Aṣọ Lànkí, Kí Ató Ki Ènìyàn / ‘We greet dress before we greet its wearer’

Explores the inseparability of dress, performance, and time in Yoruban culture via the lens of queer Yoruba archetypes.

The film looks into the romance found in the ritual of dress— the way Yoruba people have presented themselves for centuries; the drama of fold & draping of sensuous fabrics made of stories and time-intensive labor, color coding and textures.

Date: 15th of January 2021 Friday, January 15, 16:00/4PM (CET) Location: The Osun Sacred Grove, Osogbo, Nigeria

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LAGOS SPACE PROGRAMME Project 5 collection titled Aṣọ Lànkí, Kí Ató Ki Ènìyàn / ‘We greet dress before we greet its wearer’ deconstructs myths around gender roles and identity by highlighting the masquerade ceremonies of the Gélédé who celebrate the matriarchy and its role in Yoruba society embodied by only men, by collaborating with the London-based artist David Gardner, to design the Gélédé mask. Lagos Space Programme not only contemporaries but highlights an early example of gender-bending within Yoruba society.

The jewelry and sculpture accessories reflect the aesthetic and spiritual significance of bodily adornment in Yoruba culture. These objects are a collaboration with Swiss artist Dunja Herzog (Red Gold) for Project 5. She creates instruments from an interest in the healing capacities of sonic waves. Herzog explains: “The collaboration began very organically and things just fell into place. Through the capacity of brass as holder of 'electric power,' the accessories we developed are kind of transmitters— sonic sculptures and jewelry at once."

Ifá divination typologies are also explored within the Lagos Space Programme 'Post- Adire' canon— an ongoing exploration of storytelling via natural indigo dyes.

Showcasing as a digital presentation for Milan Fashion Week, the film was shot at The Osun Sacred Grove, a large cultural landscape of undisturbed forest near the city of Osogbo in southwestern Nigeria dedicated to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility. In the twentieth century, the development of the movement of New Sacred Art invigorated efforts to protect the grove, and modern sculpture now adds to the spiritual significance of the site. This movement was led by Susanne Wenger (1915– 2009), an artist and Yoruban priestess, and it transformed Osogbo into a hub of artistic activity and new ideas about contemporary African art.

Shot by Kadara Enyeasi, produced and styled by Adeju Thompson, the film follows the model Seun Akinyosoye in a variety of mise-en-scènes at The Osun Sacred

Press Release – Lagos Space Programme 1 / 3 Grove, always dressed in Project 5; the looks swing from a replica of engineered traditional Yoruba workwear trousers to multi-layered pieces like the ankle length wrap skirt made of hand dyed silk Post-Adire— an exploration of storytelling via natural dyed indigo, handmade by women of Osogbo town in Nigeria.

Adire dyed cotton fabrics are deconstructed and hand-knitted into pieces like the hand-knitted Gélédé cape blouse and reversible hand-knitted Post-Adire hunters tank top. Other key highlights within Project 5 are the military abstractions informed by dissecting codes of military uniforms like the French army pullover from the 60s. The silhouettes in the collection are informed by how the Yoruba people have presented themselves for centuries during ceremonial occasions exploring the drama of fold & draping.

We developed a series of woven tapestries with Oakland-based artist @flatspot_ . His work explores the possibilities of light sculpture through various video formats. He uses analogue camcorders, projectors, and TVs to create feedback loops, which appear on the screen or projection surface as a visual representation of the very moment and space in which they were created.

LAGOS SPACE PROGRAMME – SHORT FILM PROJECT 5 Aṣọ Lànkí, Kí Ató Ki Ènìyàn / ‘We greet dress before we greet its wearer’ will launch Friday, January 15, 10:00/10AM (EST) / 16:00/4PM (CET) at Milan Fashion Week: https://milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it/

Assets:

DOWNLOAD high res press pictures here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hJetrt6tKIdqp1nFgSY9B_au9AURRq57?usp= sharing

PICTURE CREDITS Photography © Kadara Enyeasi Photography © Isabel Okoro

Press Contact: [email protected]

Buyers: The Lagos Space Programme collection is available for Pre-Order until 31st of January 2021. Stock delivery to stores worldwide will take place in May 2021. Look book, line sheets and price lists available. Please send buyers requests to [email protected] and/or contact Annette Pringle on +27723654011.

Published Articles on Lagos Space Programme – Selection: https://www.vogue.com/article/adeju-thompson-lagos-space-programme-genderless- clothing-interview Vogue by Laird Borrelli-Persson, March 20, 2020

Press Release – Lagos Space Programme 2 / 3 https://nataal.com/lagos-space-programme Nataal by Tommy Dennis, November 28, 2020 https://www.showstudio.com/news/what-showstudio-are-looking-forward-to-milan- menswear-aw-21 Showstudio by Christina Donoghue, January 13, 2021

ABOUT LAGOS SPACE PROGRAMME: Sartorial project exploring African futures. "Lagos Space Programme" is a conceptual, avantgarde, luxury Nigerian fashion brand. We offer intellectual, ready-to-wear high-end crafted collections while exploring parallel concepts through multidisciplinary collaboration projects.

Adeju Thompson is a 29 year old Lagos, Nigeria-based designer. Educated in England, his designs aim to challenge obsolete norms around blackness, African design, masculinity and beauty.

Founded in 2018 Lagos Space Programme is a non-binary design project exploring African futures through lens informed by slow fashion and by dissecting the intersection of Thompson’s life experiences, thereby communicating ideas of individuality, proposing new ways to understand beauty by collaborating with indigenous artisans such as Bronze casters from the ancient city of Benin to women Adire dyers from Osogbo. Thompson aims to continue centuries old conversations around design practices— Knowledge transfer, acknowledgment of cultural, traditional techniques reinterpreted in modern context are at the core of the brand’s ethos as well as sustainability , reducing inequalities amongst communities, fair pay, local sourcing, responsible production and consumption as Pre-Order models are strictly followed.

Short Film Credits:

Executive Producer + Creative Director: Adeju Thompson, Lagos Space Programme Photographer + Director: Kadara Enyeasi Stylist: Adeju Thompson, Lagos Space Programme Model: Seun Akinyosoye, Fuse Model Management Stylist + Photographer Assistant: Damien Eze Location: The Osun Sacred Grove, Osogbo, Nigeria

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Press Release – Lagos Space Programme 3 / 3