Revisiting FESTAC ‘77, the largest pan-African festival in World history

A new exhibition takes a photographic look at the event which was envisioned as a restoration of power, solidarity and genius after 500 years of subjugation.

In Jan­u­ary 1977, they came 17,000 strong to Lagos, Nige­ria, to attend FES­TAC 77, the Sec­ond World Black and African Fes­ti­val of Arts and Cul­ture — a glob­al cel­e­bra­tion fea­tur­ing artists, per­form­ers, and intel­lec­tu­als from 55 nations. It was, and remains, the largest Pan-African fes­ti­val in world history.

Bol­stered by oil wealth, the Niger­ian gov­ern­ment spent $400 mil­lion ($2 bil­lion in 2023 dol­lars) to stage a month-long series of events cen­tring the arts, sci­ence, his­to­ry, pol­i­tics, and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty with a scale and scope that has nev­er been replicated.

Envi­sioned as a restora­tion of pow­er, sol­i­dar­i­ty and genius after 500 years of sub­ju­ga­tion by the Glob­al North, FES­TAC show­cased a daz­zling array of ground­break­ing fig­ures across the dias­po­ra and the con­ti­nent includ­ing Fela Kuti, Miri­am Make­ba, Ste­vie Won­der, Sun Ra, Wole Soyin­ka, Audre Lorde, Amiri Bara­ka, and Barkley Hen­dricks, among many others.

Top to bottom: Horsemen in Pageant at the Grand Durbar in Kaduna, Nigeria (northern Nigeria), 1977, K. Kofi Moyo, courtesy of Monastery Foundation, Chicago, IL Opening of FESTAC with International Delegates, 1977 K. Kofi Moyo, courtesy of Monastery Foundation, Chicago, IL

Now the new exhi­bi­tion So Be It! Asé! Pho­to­graph­ic Echoes of FES­TAC 77 looks back at this once-in-a-life­time expe­ri­ence through the lens of Roy Lewis, K. Kofi Moyo, and Bob Craw­ford. As mem­bers of the Unit­ed States del­e­ga­tion to FES­TAC, the pho­tog­ra­phers doc­u­ment­ed the kalei­do­scop­ic array of per­for­mances, art exhi­bi­tions, sym­po­siums, pageants, and cer­e­mo­ni­al events that affirmed Africa’s place as the cen­tre of the world.

For many, FES­TAC marked a home­com­ing and a fam­i­ly reunion long over­due. This was my first trip to Africa, a dream pur­suit,” says K. Kofi Moyo, now 84.

Born in Chica­go in 1939, Moyo took up pho­tog­ra­phy at age 8 under the tute­lage of his moth­er, a pub­lic school teacher who encour­aged her son to pur­sue his pas­sions for the arts. Exposed to racism and struc­tur­al inequities from a young age, he became involve in com­mu­ni­ty activism, using his cam­era as a tool of liberation.

As inde­pen­dent pho­to­jour­nal­ist, Moyo’s activ­i­ties kept him close to the streets on assign­ment for Ebony mag­a­zine and The Chica­go Defend­er, devel­op­ing rela­tion­ships that would ulti­mate­ly bring him to FES­TAC. Like Lewis and Craw­ford, Moyo chron­i­cled the extra­or­di­nary encoun­ters and events as they unfold­ed over the course of 29 days, cre­at­ing an inti­mate and immer­sive por­trait of this his­toric festival.

Untitled (Jeff Donaldson at FESTAC 1977), 1977, © Bob Crawford, courtesy of GRAY Chicago/New York
Untitled (Miriam Makeba at FESTAC 1977), 1977, © Bob Crawford, courtesy of GRAY Chicago/New York
Untitled (Sun Ra at FESTAC 1977), 1977, © Bob Crawford, courtesy of GRAY Chicago/New York
FESTAC 77 United States of America and Red, Black and Green Flag, 1977, © Roy Lewis, courtesy of GRAY Chicago/New York
Visual Art Entrance of National Theater, 1977, © Roy Lewis, courtesy of GRAY Chicago/New York
Participating Sultan in review during Grand Durbar proceedings in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, 1977, K. Kofi Moyo, courtesy of Monastery Foundation, Chicago, IL

At times it was over­whelm­ing,” he says, describ­ing a sense of joy and won­der whose pow­er has not dimin­ished with the pas­sage of time. The vil­lage at night was alive. No one ever real­ly slept.”

Roy Lewis feels the same way. It was one of the great moments in my life, and affect­ed my work in a very pos­i­tive way.” Born in Natchez, Mis­sis­sip­pi, in 1937, Lewis grew up on a plan­ta­tion before mak­ing his way to Chica­go in 1956. He launched his career in 64 when Jet mag­a­zine pub­lished his por­trait of jazz leg­end Thelo­nious Monk.

A decade lat­er, Lewis made his first trip to Africa to pho­to­graph the leg­endary Rum­ble in the Jun­gle” heavy­weight cham­pi­onship fight between Muham­mad Ali and George Fore­man. FES­TAC marked his return to the con­ti­nent, this time exhibit­ing his pho­tographs as well as shoot­ing the festival.

There was a great spir­it in the air,” Moyo says.

So Be It! Asé! Pho­to­graph­ic Echoes of FES­TAC 77: Roy Lewis, K. Kofi Moyo, Bob Craw­ford is on view through Decem­ber 22, 2023, at Gray New York, and will trav­el to Gray Chica­go in ear­ly 2024.

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