Lagos Exhibition Reframes the White Garment Movement

Nigerian photographer Stephen Tayo’s new exhibition, What Comes to Mind When You See the Garment?, examines the Aladura movement—a Pentecostal Christian tradition rooted in Yoruba spiritual practice since the 1910s. Shot in black and white across five cities in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and the United States since 2022, the project pushes back against decades of Nollywood stereotypes that cast white-garment churches as symbols of the supernatural or sinister. Tayo, a philosophy graduate, uses an observational approach—often avoiding direct portraiture—to capture the everyday intimacy and community within these congregations. The exhibition also incorporates sound, film, and unconventional materials such as textiles and metal. Tayo describes the project as deeply personal, shaped by inherited assumptions from his upbringing and his own Christian faith. First shown at New York’s International Center of Photography in 2024, the exhibition is now on view in Lagos through September 20th, inviting viewers to reconsider their own biases about the garment’s meaning.