Machine Boys
Karimah Ashadu
May 9 - July 26, 2025
Opening Reception, May 9, 2025, 6–8pm
Karimah Ashadu (b. 1984) is bringing her film Machine Boys, winner of the Silver Lion at the 60th Venice Biennale, to Canal Projects for its New York Premiere. The film explores the informal economy of motorcycle taxis, known as “Okada,” in Lagos. Ashadu follows a group of bikers who continue this practice after it was banned by the city’s government, documenting their daily routines and professional challenges. Machine Boys explores the performance of masculinity through financial independence, and the vulnerability that emerges through pursuing this precarious line of work. Ashadu is a British-born Nigerian artist and film director working in Hamburg. Machine Boys continues her exploration of patriarchy, labor, and independence through the lens of Nigerian culture and its diaspora.
