1. Activation in Vrijthof Square, Maastricht, 2025 (photo by artist)
2. Joy in front of her POS stand, Lagos, 2025 (photo by Ofem Ubi)
3-4. Wall-sculpture at Jan van Eyck Academie, 2025, hand-dyed cotton and nylon fabric, metal armature, pvc banners, 240 x 150 x 80cm (photos by artist)
5-9. Installation view at Visual Arts Center of Clarington, 2026, wall-scultpure, standing sculpture, radio, two-channel video installation, vinyl print (photos by LF Documentation)
POS Available Here repurposes the aesthetics and functionality of the point-of-sale (POS) stands commonly found throughout Nigeria to re-route money from the Global North to Lagos as a form of reparations. Here, visual elements of POS stands —the mismatched and layered fabrics, the posters, the company logos—become the vehicle for telling a different story about Nigeria’s integration into global economic and financial systems.
The company logos seen everywhere on POS umbrellas in Lagos — Maggi, Coca-Cola, Milo — mirror the broader relationship between the country and multinational corporations: one of staking ownership and participation only under conditions of maximum profit extraction. Key here is Shell, a Dutch company whose extractive practices in the Niger Delta have caused environmental and social damages that are still being fought against.
Another company examined is Vlisco, whose Dutch wax print has significantly impacted Nigeria’s local textile practices. Building on her ‘Guaranteed Nigerian Adire’ project, Nnebe use her process for creating tie-dye or adire photographs to create layers of fabric that reflect a palimpsestic history. Under one fabric with the Lipton logo is an archival photograph that speaks to the sale of the Royal Niger Company’s charter over Nigeria to the British Government. The Royal Niger Company was later absorbed into Unilever, which later purchased (and sold) Lipton.
The POS signs seen across Lagos are adapted to a Dutch context, playing with the dual translation of “debt”and “guilt” as “schuld”. Rather than logos of telecoms, the bottom of the posters feature logos of Dutch banks that have issued apologies for their involvement in the slave trade but refuse to offer financial compensation.
Most importantly, POS Available Here is activated through performance and money is put into circulation: as of January 2026, Nnebe has raised €800 operating her POS stand and terminal in the Netherlands and Canada, redistributing the money to the POS agents she worked with as a form of mutual aid and reparations.
More information available here.
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.