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MASQUERADE: NIGERIA HITS MICHAEL JACKSON (2000-2004)

In his satiric photo essay MASQUERADE: NIGERIA HITS MICHAEL JACKSON (2000-2004), Owen Logan had a performer impersonating Michael Jackson travel through Nigeria. Logan conceived the series after he had seen a Michael Jackson imitator perform in a Nigerian club. The audience, consisting of white expatriates, responded as if nothing had changed in the post-colonial era. It seemed as if Nigeria was still a black country made for whites. Westerners see the black population primarily as cheap labor, a role which the Nigerians accept. Logan sees Michael Jackson as a striking symbol for this. Jackson has also repudiated his roots in the pursuit of a wider white audience. Moreover, his deep connections with the record industry show strong similarities with the warmth that the Nigerian political elite entertain for the white exploiters of their nation’s oil reserves.

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