Lagos Balogun Market — Fabric Overhead
799.00 د.إ
The Balogun Market fabric traders’ section in Lagos Island — the overhead view of fabric merchant stalls from a second-floor position, the bolts of Ankara, aso-oke, and imported brocade creating a mosaic of West African textile pattern.
Description
Balogun Market in Lagos Island is one of West Africa’s largest commercial markets — a multi-block complex covering the north of Lagos Island where textile trading concentrates in a series of covered and open stalls that deal in Ankara wax print, aso-oke hand-woven fabric, imported brocade, and lace. The overhead view of the textile section produces an abstract of pattern and colour available nowhere else in African commercial photography: the folded and displayed fabric bolts, the hanging lengths, and the stacked reams create a pattern mosaic whose visual complexity rewards close examination. This image was made from a second-floor railing position above the main Ankara trading section at 11am, when the market is at peak activity. The traders visible between the fabric displays provide human scale in the overhead composition. Shot at f/8 on a 35mm prime, the full depth of the stall below is maintained in focus from the closest fabric to the background stalls.
