The Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, held in Lagos, Nigeria in 1977, was more than a festival — it was a pivotal moment in Pan-African culture in the 20th century, transcending similar events both before and after. Known as FESTAC ’77, it lasted for a month and showcased over 15,000 musicians, artists, writers, dancers, and cultural leaders representing 56 African nations and countries of the African Diaspora — including Stevie Wonder, Winnie Owens, Ellsworth Ausby, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Queen Mother Moore, Les Ballets Africains, and Dudu Pukwana.
MICA alumna Marilyn Nance ’96 (Photography MFA), fresh from an undergraduate degree and taking her first trip abroad, attended as the official photographer for the American contingent of the festival’s North American delegation. Her work resulted in one of FESTAC ’77’s largest and most important visual archives. She recently drew from the collection to publish Last Day in Lagos, which chronicles the exuberance, intensity, and significance of this landmark occasion.
Edited by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Last Day in Lagos contains never before seen photographs, contending gracefully with the archive’s scope of 1,500 images and locating Nance’s perspective within the context of geopolitical, historical, and aesthetic discourses of the Black Atlantic, postcolonial Nigeria, and Black Arts Movement in the US.
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