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Veranstaltungsdokumentation (Januar 2006)
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The Glendora Review, a magazine published in Lagos, Nigeria |
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Statement by Kunle Tejuoso
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Beitrag in deutscher Sprache
The name, Glendora Review, comes from the bookstore, a family run business in Lagos. I will
describe our bookshop as a culture type shop, not a mainstream shop, and through our book
selections, we try to use the store as a means to disseminate as much information as possible
through the books that we pick. The magazine is basically subsidised by the bookstore and has no
affiliation with any institution at all.
Glendora Review was initiated in 1995 in Lagos at a time when we experienced a very difficult
time with a dictator by the name of Abacha, who made things extremely difficult for us all at the
time. All kinds of things were happening, leading writers, journalists and a lot of intellectuals were
running out of the country, some were locked up in detention and all kinds of things were going on.
A lot of brilliant intellectuals, that we knew from Lagos had left for America and we could not get
access to their articles or essays. I mean these guys were some of the best minds, who left in the late
1970s and 80s to teach in America. Most of them were not published abroad. And at that time, we
did not have the internet for easy access to these essays and so Glendora Review was the forum to
drop and read a lot of their work.
The plan, or the concept for the magazine, was to create a forum of exchange that would enable us
obtain ideas, and to create a platform for us to tell our own story in our own language and style and
also to be able to get access to a lot of the work being done by our intellectuals, that had left the
country, because there was this great brain drain at the period. So the magazine was formed with
the idea of us carrying as much material, which entailed us being aware of the contemporary trends
and ideas on the art/culture scene and therefore provide a means, through the magazine, to educate
a lot of the local artists, writers and cultural activists at home, it was a basis for them to get access to
the new ideas that were being developed across the globe, particularly in the West. While at the
same time, it was also a voice, for them to present their work and dialogue on a number of issues.
Apart from that, it was also a unique magazine, in the sense that we wanted to break out from the
normal formatted journal type, that African journals were known for. We wanted to bring in more
graphics, more creativity, and give a stronger aesthetic sense.
And so these were some of the big ideas we had, at that period in 1995 when we started with our
first issue but as the magazine evolved gradually from one issue to the other we then began to
discover the difficulties involved in publishing. The initial process was largely subsidized by the
bookstore but as we grew it became increasingly hard, not just in terms of production but in terms
of getting access to articles due to lack of funds. We began to have problems with obtaining the
type of photography that we wanted amongst other kinds of things associated with publishing of
this nature. In the process of us creating solutions to these issues , we noticed that we had indirectly
began to stimulate an array of activities such as the use of a young crop of photographers instead of
the old masters of the past. I mean this was all done in our search to create a more contemporary
look to fit the type of magazine we were creating. And so we noticed a whole new scenario was
being born, young photographers, writers and artists that were developing out of this platform that
we had created.
It also acted as a form of network for us, as it enabled us to see and read work from other parts of
the continent. It has not been an easy task, putting the magazine together. I mean it’s been full of
challenges because another crucial aspect of the whole process, is that we noticed, that a lot of the
ideas that were being propagated in the West, that is by African intellectuals, are sometimes far off
from the artistic activities and theories practised by like contemporaries at home and so the
magazine has acted as a bridge to open up these ideas to both side of the imaginary line. |
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09. Februar 2012
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