Machine Boys (2024) is a portrait of okada, an informal mode of transportation by motorcycle taxis used across West Africa in lieu of public transport. In Lagos, okadas are omnipresent, yet they have come to be banned in the former Nigerian capital due to their role in traffic accidents and the safety risks they pose to riders, drivers and pedestrians. Shot over several years, Machine Boys immerses us in the underworld of Lagos, where the riders zip with sartorial flair through the city’s expressways, marinas and dirt roads. Voiceovers discuss fate, money and survival while revealing these young men’s vulnerability and self-determination: they are forced into these precarious livelihoods in order to support their families or realise educational and entrepreneurial dreams. Alongside Machine Boys, Ashadu also presents Wreath (2024), a brass sculpture derived from the film: wall-mounted and embossed, this relief carries the imprint of okada tyres, transposing the weight of movement, material and place.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Karimah Ashadu (b. 1985, London) is a British-born Nigerian artist and film director living and working between Hamburg and Lagos. Her practice is concerned with labour, patriarchy and notions of independence pertaining to the socio-economic and cultural context of Nigeria and its diaspora. Ashadu’s work has been exhibited and screened at institutions internationally, including the 60th Venice Biennale (2024). The artist’s solo exhibitions include Karimah Ashadu: Machine Boys, Canal Projects, New York (2025); Prize of the Böttcherstraße in Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen (2022); Karimah Ashadu: Plateau at Tate Modern, London (2022) and Secession, Vienna (2021). Group exhibitions include The Gatherers, MoMA PS1, New York (2025) and the 18th edition of Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (2024).
EXHIBITED WORKS
Karimah Ashadu (b. 1985)
Wreath, 2024
Brass
100 × 100 × 10 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ
Karimah Ashadu (b. 1985)
Machine Boys, 2024
Single-channel digital film, 16:9, colour, 08:50 min, 5.1 surround sound
Produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film; co-produced by Golddust by Ashadu
Courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ
