CHROME & DUST: Stories on the move

In Chrome & Dust: Stories on the Move, Christian Okwananke presents a compelling visual essay on how movement defines identity — not merely through grand journeys, but through the daily rituals of commute, congestion, and collective memory.

Set against the textured, ever-changing backdrop of Lagos, this exhibition frames the city’s iconic vehicles — the danfo, keke, and korope — not as symbols of dysfunction, but as visual metaphors of resilience, adaptation, and lived history. Okwananke’s watercolours capture the overlooked poetry of public transport: the torn upholstery, the faded religious decals, the moments of chaos that blur into routine.

These works are not just documentation — they are acts of cultural preservation. The danfo, in all its noise and rust, carries more than passengers. It carries lineage, tension, unwritten stories, and urban folklore. Through gentle brushstrokes and layered perspective, the artist challenges us to reconsider what we deem worthy of artistic attention — and what fragments of our daily environment silently narrate who we are becoming.

Rendered in watercolour — a medium as fluid and unpredictable as the city it portrays — each piece invites viewers to engage with movement not just as physical transit, but as emotional and generational passage. In doing so, Chrome & Dust becomes a mirror to Lagos itself: complex, moving, and deeply human.