Bruno Barbey's 1960s Nigerian Civil War Photograph Reflects on Distance and Memory

Emmanuel Iduma reflects on a photograph by Bruno Barbey taken in Lagos during the Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from 1967 to 1970. Barbey, a French-born photographer embedded with the Nigerian Army, captured a scene of telephone booths occupied by diverse users, including a woman and child, roughly 60 kilometres from the nearest battlefield. Iduma interprets the image as a quiet dirge, highlighting the emotional distance and private intrigues of those communicating amid conflict. He notes that many accessible photographs from this war are by non-Nigerian photographers, such as those from the agency Magnum, contrasting with the limited digital preservation of works by Nigerian photojournalist Peter Obe. The photograph's composition includes a sign with the Nigerian government slogan 'To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done,' used for propaganda and still invoked in discussions of national unity. Iduma connects the image to personal memories of childhood phone calls with his father abroad, bridging emotional gaps. The piece underscores the role of foreign photographers in documenting the war, which involved dozens of international figures and sparked international outrage, including a student self-immolation at Columbia University.