MOWAA announces DRUM Magazine West African Archive Loan

In partnership with the Drum Archive / Baileys African History Archive (BAHA) and with the support of the Ford Foundation, MOWAA is pleased to announce the arrival of the DRUM Magazine West African Archive. A defining publication of its time, documenting the social, political and cultural life of postcolonial Africa through bold journalism and photography, shaping a generation of writers, artists and readers across the continent, DRUM magazine’s impact is still resonant today. 

Comprising over 1,000 editions from Nigeria and Ghana and spanning nearly three decades, the DRUM Magazine West African Archive will be the focus of a multi-strand programme of research, public engagements and exhibitions at MOWAA. This work will centre on cataloguing, interrogating and activating these landmark editions, opening up new avenues for understanding their cultural and historical significance. 

"These magazines mark a transformative period in Nigeria's modern history. As an African Institution, it’s incredibly important for us not just to make the material available but to ensure that the creatives who contributed towards their production are named, recorded, and studied.” — Ore Disu, MOWAA Institute Director  

“What DRUM did was really allow for a visual language for ourselves to be established at a time when the world was trying to tell a story for us.” — Aindrea Emelife, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art 

“DRUM is held very closely as a repository of people’s history and is a vital brick in understanding where you come from--it was huge in Nigeria--and we were super excited to have the opportunity to partner with MOWAA: an institution with world-class facilities to activate the archive and have it come alive.”— Prospero Bailey, Historian and Custodian of DRUM Archive 

Developed as an extension of MOWAA's Social History Archives practice, we are pleased to announce our inaugural DRUM Fellowship, which will run from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027. This fellowship reflects our commitment to expanding access to archives and collections as sites of inquiry, cultural memory and creative production.

Learn more about the DRUM Fellowship and apply here.