A Tire never dies: pneumacity lagos

A Tire Never Dies: Pneumacity Lagos is a long-term visual project exploring what happens to tyres in Lagos after they leave the vehicle. In a city shaped by constant movement, tyres rarely disappear. They continue to circulate — repaired, reused, repurposed, and transformed through everyday labour.

Moving between roadside vulcanizers, informal collection points, and industrial sites, the project follows how materials often described as waste take on new roles and meanings. In Lagos, reuse is not a concept or policy framework, but a lived reality shaped by necessity, skill, and improvisation.

The project unfolds across several interconnected series, including studies of urban aesthetics, labour forces, reuse and recycling practices, a short film (Tyred!), public exhibition installations, and research-led publications. Together, these elements trace the social, material, and spatial life of tyres across the city.

Pneumacity Lagos forms part of the broader Pneuma-city research initiative, funded by the British Academy through the University of Kent, and developed in collaboration with academics, engineers, and curators. Working within this transdisciplinary framework expanded how I approached the project — not only as documentation, but as a shared process of thinking through images, movement, and public presence.

Through photography, film, and public art installations, Pneumacity Lagos follows this continuous movement and what it reveals about the city itself.