A Peer Learning and Networking session Within Archive Fever II: Stewarding Art Archives in Practice
On April 23rd, 2026, G.A.S. Lagos hosted Ecosystem Meet-Up, a peer learning and networking session presented as part of Archive Fever II: Stewarding Art Archives in Practice, developed in collaboration with the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA). The event was organised as an associate programme of the AAL Lab and Affiliates Network.
Welcome address by Mary Omoregie, curatorial assistant Archive Fever II. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
Held from April 21st–23rd, 2026 across Lagos, Archive Fever II brought together archive-holding institutions, private practitioners, libraries, and conservation specialists for a series of practical engagements focused on the preservation, care, and accessibility of art archives and heritage collections across Nigeria and West Africa. Developed by MOWAA, the programme builds on the first edition of Archive Fever, held in Paris in June 2025. Realised through the Alternative Heritage Grant, an initiative of the French Embassy in Nigeria, the programme continues an ongoing transnational exchange centred on material conservation, accessibility, and collaborative approaches to archival stewardship.
Director of MOWAA, Ore Disu presenting at Ecosystem Meet-Up. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
Across three days, the programme featured conservation clinics, workshops, strategic discussions, and public forums, creating space for shared learning and applied approaches to archival practice. As part of the final day’s activities, G.A.S. Lagos hosted Ecosystem Meet-Up, a moderated conversation and networking session for archive-holding institutions and private practitioners. Through presentations, case studies, and open dialogue, participants reflected on contemporary archival practice and the evolving responsibilities of cultural stewardship.
G.A.S. Executive Director, Moni Aisida presenting at Ecosystem Meet-Up. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
The session opened was introduced by Mary Osaretin, Curatorial Assistant on the project, who welcomed participants and invited them to share their practices and areas of work. This was followed by remarks from G.A.S. Executive Director Moni Aisida who gave an overview of G.A.S. Foundation, followed by a guided tour G.A.S. Library and Picton Archive led by Library Assistant Damilola Joseph.
Guests at the G.A.S. Library and Picton Archive. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
Reflections on the wider programme were later shared by Ore Disu of MOWAA, who traced the development of the initiative and its broader trajectory. The session continued with presentations by Sa’eed Husaini (fellow at the Centre for Development and Democracy, CDD), Fu’ad Lawal (Chief Archivist, Archiv.ng), Tosin Oyebisi (Founder, Lagos Sound Archive Collective), Somi Nwandu (Founder, Studio Nwandu), Dr. Pauline Guinard (Director, IFRA Nigeria), and Yetunde Odediran (Associate Conservator, MOWAA), each offering insights into their archival, research, and conservation practices.
Programme contributors presenting during the Ecosystem Meet-Up. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
The event concluded with an open Q&A session, where attendees reflected on the challenges of sustaining archives, expanding access, and building collaborative models for preservation across the region.
Guests at Ecosystem Meet-Up. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
Participant contributing to a discussion during the Ecosystem Meet-Up. Image courtesy of MOWAA.
About the Contributors
Fu'ad Lawal
Fu'ad Lawal is a media and technology operator who's spent the past decade impacting businesses at every level. He's done stints working at digital media companies, from Pulse to Red Media and Big Cabal Media (TechCabal and Zikoko), to leading business growth at startups like Eden Life. Currently, Fu'ad is the Chief Archivist at Archivi.ng, a company making Nigerian history accessible by digitising old Nigerian newspapers and democratising access for everyone. He also writes and makes stuff with a motley bunch at Vistanium.
Mary Omoregie
Mary Osaretin Omoregie is a curator at Center for Contemporary Art Lagos and researcher who is interested in African feminism, community engagement, and archival representation. Mary is also interested in exploring new modes of critical inquiry, including the intersections of artistic practice, cultural identity, and community formation that exist beyond traditional paradigms and norms.
Image courtesy of MOWAA.
Ore Disu
Ore Disu has served as the inaugural Director of the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) Institute, Nigeria, since January 2022. She also sits on MOWAA’s Board and advises several institutions on social responsibility practices. Under her leadership, the Institute advances MOWAA’s mission to reframe cultural value by foregrounding precolonial African perspectives, geographic frameworks, and contextually-relevant practices of care. Before joining MOWAA, she was the founding Executive Director of the Nsibidi Institute, a Lagos-based cultural think-tank, and worked extensively as a development practitioner. With over a decade of experience in cultural programming, research, and stakeholder engagement, she is a strong advocate for people-centred design, new publics, and talent development across Africa. Ore holds degrees in Architecture (University of Cambridge) and Urban Studies (University College London). She is an alumna of the Yale Directors Forum Africa Fellowship (2022–2024).
Pauline Guinard
Pauline Guinard is an urban geographer whose research explores three main areas: the interaction between arts and public spaces, with a focus on the cities in the Global South; fieldwork practices, especially under constrained or challenging conditions; and the emotional dimension of individual and collective relationships with space. To apprehend and share this sensitive, embodied, and affective relation to space, she has been developing a research-creation methodology over the past few years. Through artistic and creative media—including sound and visual mapping, storytelling, and in situ dance—she seeks to move beyond the predominantly visual and verbal methods of geography. In doing so, she offers complementary ways of exploring how inhabitants experience urban transformations in Greater Paris and Lagos.
Image courtesy of Ifra-Nigeria.
Sa’eed Husaini
Sa’eed Husaini is a researcher, organizer, and educator. He is a currently a Research Fellow at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja Nigeria, where he leads a project to digitize the family-held archives of Nigerian left and pro-democracy activists from the 1940s – 1990s. His research examines how the economic and political transition at the end of the 20th century remapped the ideological spectrum in Nigeria. His wider work is animated by an interest in examining how elite and popular political ideas about capitalism and democracy intersect to shape the practices of organizing, coercion, and governance in contemporary Africa. He holds a DPhil in International Development from the University of Oxford and was a 2023 Fellow of the African Humanities Program, supported by the American Council for Learned Societies. He has previously held research and teaching positions at the Universities of Oxford, Lagos, and Ghana.
Image courtesy of Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa.
Somi Nwandu
Somi Nwandu is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, photographer, and cultural practitioner working across fashion, art, and new media. With experience spanning institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, Tom Ford, and Macy's, her practice bridges art, technology, and cultural storytelling. Raised between Maryland and Enugu, and having worked across multiple countries and continents, her work is shaped by a deeply cross-cultural perspective. She holds degrees from the Fashion Institute of Technology and SOAS University of London, and is committed to using creative practice as a tool for connection, innovation, and community building.
Image courtesy of Art Index Africa.
Tosin Oyebisi
Tosin Oyebisi, popularly known as Oluwatosin Oyee, is a multidisciplinary artist working across dance, sound, music and founder of the Lagos Sound Archive Collective. Trained through collaborations with practitioners including Qudus Onikeku and Adedayo Liadi, his practice merges science and art, drawing from his background in Physics at Lagos State University. He created the live soundscape for Esther Essien’s award-winning solo piece Just Me, which received the ‘PRIX YONGONLON OU MEILLEUR ESPOIR’ at the 2019 Africa Simply the Best contest in Burkina Faso. He is the artistic director of TANTOLOUN Productions, a Lagos-based performing arts company focused on human, cultural, and socioeconomic development, and has performed internationally across France, Belgium, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Côte d’Ivoire.
Image courtesy of TANTOLOUN Productions.
Yetunde Odediran
Yetunde Odediran is an Associate Conservator at the Museum of West African Art, where she works to preserve and restore artworks for future generations. Her practice focuses on maintaining the integrity of artworks through careful material analysis, conservation treatment, and heritage management. Working behind the scenes to prepare works for exhibition and storage, she is committed to protecting artists’ intent while ensuring the long-term care of cultural collections.
This event was hosted by the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in collaboration with G.A.S. Foundation and the Embassy of France in Nigeria under the Alternative Heritage grant.
