Karimah Ashadu. Open Shields

Research images taken on my mobile phone, led by impulse and intuition at a time when this project was shaping into fruition. They embody the spirit, energy and reality of tin mining in Nigeria's Plateau state. Cloth and clay. Dark skin-argil ashen. Bodies melt into landscape. Residues of the past present-in water, soil, crop and terrain. Text by Erika Balsom weaves through, delving into the context and concept of the film Plateau. A 1977 Commonwealth advertisement from the British Times interrupts the pages, outlining zealous plans for Nigeria's future. (Karimah Ashadu)