6 Hours brought together Nigerian photographer Bolaji Alonge and Dutch muralist Ottograph in a collaborative project examining two cities linked by a six-hour flight.
The work was produced during an immersive residency in Lagos and later presented at the Lagos Fringe Festival at Freedom Park.
Two practices, two cities
Alonge, also known as Eyes of a Lagos Boy, has built a photographic practice around everyday life in Lagos, using familiar streets and social scenes to reveal overlooked details and tensions.
Ottograph approaches urban space through large-scale painting and a visual language rooted in street art and pop imagery.
For 6 Hours, the artists combined photography and mural work to compare Lagos and Amsterdam without reducing either city to a stereotype.
The collaboration extended beyond the gallery. Three murals by Ottograph remained visible at Freedom Park, Bature Brewery and the Dutch Consulate after the project’s earlier presentation in Lagos.
A dialogue across distance
The six-hour flight time between the artists’ home cities gave the project its title and conceptual structure.
Rather than treating Europe and West Africa as separate cultural worlds, the exhibition looked for contrasts, repetitions and shared urban experiences.
The result positioned street photography and mural painting as complementary forms of observation: one records the city as found, while the other intervenes directly in its surfaces.