“Lino Hellings”

Lino Hellings is the artistic director of PAPA. She developed PAPA in a residency at Photo Press Agency Drik in Dhaka (Bangladesh) and in working with local photographers (with an international status) in PAPA-Labs in Lagos (Nigeria), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Bishkek (Kyrgystan). 

African Artists Foundation

Lagos -  You cannot see it so much but this building is an artpiece in itself. The tables, chairs, the bathroom floor; all the doors are genuine artworks. It is a pleasure…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

The flower man

Lagos -  Some plants and a notice on a piece of plywood. This way you can open up several shops and businesses at the same time. …
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Wild Walk four, the last one

Lagos -  Two new photographers joined us today. Andrew and Adolphus. We went out with the seven of us to the Bus station. The place where the area boys, the unofficial owners…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

The first P.A.P.A. exhibition

Lagos -  Ten big prints on bamboo structures. About hundred pictures put together as a collage illustrating the patterns in the news we have found and two posters with drawn mindmaps made…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Public space Lagos

Lagos -  A lot of the life in Lagos is performed in the streets. In the West it is considered inappropriate and it is even forbidden. Here there is a wide variety…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

The art of begging 1

Dhaka -  Although the distinction is sometimes negligible, there are also traders who have something that actually resembles merchandise: children with nets of lemons, towels or bags of popcorn. When I…
Lino Hellings –

Wild Walk #1

Lagos -  The photographer is Tuoyo, picturing a mobile businessman. The business man on the left is Toye Gbade. Tuoyo works as a free lance photojournalist. Toye works in a publishing company…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Hidden forces.

Lagos -  This photo was erased but brought back into the world by the genius Tuoyo. We took a walk over the bridge today and met a lot of hidden forces in…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Games people play.

Lagos -  In every tourist guide about Lagos you read about the Area boys. Gang of men and boys who ‘own’ the place (unofficially). They supply services you have not asked for…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

P.A.P.A. Nigeria ready to be founded

Lagos -  Over hundred people came to the opening. Lady in the middle is Folake Ojerkere, the director of Pictureworks extra. With the Netherlands Embassy, she is the sponsor of this exhibition…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Mobile life Lagos

Lagos -  Life in Lagos is completely mobile. Everything that doesn’t work in Lagos – and that is a lot – is made operative by the people themselves. The shopkeepers and…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

The art of begging 2

Dhaka -  Within a fraction of a second they resume their professional doleful posturing.  …
Lino Hellings –

Artists/painters of trucks and busses

Lagos -  The five of us where just about leaving for Lagos Mainland when a group of artists/painters of trucks and busses arrived. AAF is running a project with these ‘grass roots’…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

On the meaning of art.

Lagos -  The discussion on the meaning of art was full of shouting humor. Quotes: In our country so many things are not pleasantly looking. Art serves a function here/ Art is…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

call the welder

Lagos -  Call the welder, call the plumber, call the carpenter, call the electrician etc. Other craftsmen advertise in the same way. Sometimes they make a small installation to show off their…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Hidden Forces Lagos

Lagos -  To finalize our research we made news about the forces in Public Space which pop up when you go slightly out of the script. In a positive and a negative…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Street advertisement?

Sao Paulo -  Sao Paulo forbade advertisements in public space so I have heard. I expected empty walls. On the contrary there are murals everywhere. Art, advertisement? I do not know. It does…
Lino Hellings – Sao Paulo Lab

In need of the Qura€™an?

Dhaka -  I am in a chic car on my way to the Independent University, where I am to give a lecture. It is Dhaka, Bangladesh and the traffic is stationery more…
Lino Hellings –

This house is not for sale.

Lagos -  You can read this on several houses in our street. It tells the story of a deceased person with many children who cannot agree on the legacy. To prefend one…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

At the end of the day

Lagos -  With a handfull of cables and a lot of skills Toye made it work on the slow and unreliable internet connection we have here. Apart from being a good observer…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

NHL No Hurry in Life

Lagos -  This NHL person has a heavenly smile on his face. Definitely a ‘No Hurry in Life’ man. Notice the little straw he holds in his right hand. His slogan is…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Acronyms Lagos

Lagos -  The Nigerians have a lovely way to deal with all the institutions that deliver badly. They change the letters in the acronyms into new sayings. In this way they made…
Lino Hellings – Lagos Lab

Benetton people

Sao Paulo -  Knowing Sao Paulo forbid all advertisement in public space you would expect an ‘empty city’. On the contrary not one piece of wall unpainted. Murals all over. The people do…
Lino Hellings – Sao Paulo Lab