Now building — call for contributors
The people behind
Nigerian creativity
deserve to be
on record.
Who directed that video? Who styled that shoot? Who shot that cover? We're building the archive that answers those questions.
Contribute to the archive01
So much of Nigeria's creative history lives in conversations, Instagram captions, WhatsApp messages, backstage introductions, and people's memories. The work exists but the context around how it came to exist is disappearing. The people behind it become harder to find. The relationships fade. The collaborations are forgotten. Archiving is how we make sure that stops happening.
02
My original motivation was simpler. I wanted to build something similar to Ashantea Austin's Creative Director Map, but for Nigeria. Then I realised something fundamental: you can't build relationship graphs without data. You can't visualise an ecosystem that has never been documented.
03
What happens to the researcher who wants to study creative collaboration? The student writing about Nigerian visual culture? The developer who wants to build recommendation tools? If the data doesn't exist, none of those things can exist either. Archiving isn't only about preserving the past.
01
So much of Nigeria's creative history lives in conversations, Instagram captions, WhatsApp messages, backstage introductions, and people's memories. The work exists but the context around how it came to exist is disappearing. The people behind it become harder to find. The relationships fade. The collaborations are forgotten. Archiving is how we make sure that stops happening.
02
My original motivation was simpler. I wanted to build something similar to Ashantea Austin's Creative Director Map, but for Nigeria. Then I realised something fundamental: you can't build relationship graphs without data. You can't visualise an ecosystem that has never been documented.
03
What happens to the researcher who wants to study creative collaboration? The student writing about Nigerian visual culture? The developer who wants to build recommendation tools? If the data doesn't exist, none of those things can exist either. Archiving isn't only about preserving the past.
What we document
- Music VideosDirector, DOP, Stylist, Colorist, Editor
- Album ArtworkPhotographer, Art Director, Retoucher
- Editorial FashionFashion Editor, Stylist, Hair, Makeup
- Fashion CampaignsCreative Director, Photographer, Cast
- Live PerformancesCreative Director, Stylist, Choreographer
If you've ever paused a music video to figure out who directed it — you're exactly the kind of person we're looking for.
Contribute to the archive