🔗 Share this article

Following more than 50 editions navigating the global Black diaspora, this marks a last dispatch. The experience was profoundly gratifying, with immense appreciation offered to every one of the dedicated followers.

Exploring Accra Cultural Week

Visiting the showcases, presentations and acts of Accra Cultural Week, it becomes clear how superior art nourishes and shapes a nation's history and essence. The highlight was undoubtedly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s remarkable a profound exploration of ritual and time, which put his innovative afrogallonism for all to see: a philosophy that reimagines water vessels into illusory works of art, mosaics of metallic tones. The display was created as a homage to the endurance of Jamestown, a historical neighbourhood of Accra.

This area – predominantly inhabited by the Ga ethnic group, a seafaring people – is furthermore where a great number of returning Africans came back from South America and established themselves in the 1830s. Called the Tabom, they carried with them Portuguese tongue and traditions.

Throughout Jamestown, you can see a fusion of building designs. You'll find Fort Vicentia, boasting its distinct Portuguese construction and curved entrances. Another landmark is the prominent beacon, built in the 1871 and eventually given its distinctive red-and-white-striped exterior.

Traditions of Mourning

Furthermore remarkable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous sight of memorial notices. Everywhere you turn, whether covering walls or on big signboards, there are funeral details and expressions of farewell. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, final rites are large-scale communal events.

In the artist's breathtaking installation, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – notably in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa work. In this space, visitors are calmed by the audio of ocean surf with sand underfoot, while shacks, draped nets and depictions of canoes honour its vibrant, generational seafaring tradition. However standing in this exhibition space, one cannot help but think of the piles of cast-off garments that threaten the charm and peace of the region.

Beyond the Main Event

The festival program included much more. Inside an incomplete building at the campus, artist Sylvester showcased a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, austere presentation that displayed three-dimensional works and artworks made in partnership with metalworkers.

And then there is the Yaa Asantewaa Art prize for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It showcased the debut presentation of a prior winner, whose work utilizes familial archival records to create a depiction of life in the nation's recent history. The event also crowned a latest winner, whose multidisciplinary work is particularly invested in the weaving practices of women in a specific region.

A Lasting Legacy

Although the global African community has more and more been drawn home to west Africa during the western winter, a growing cohort are thinking about visiting for the cultural season to immerse themselves in the area's festival period. From Accra Cultural Week and regional art fairs, what you’ll find are cultural ecosystems that are not simply new or “upcoming” but have forged an whole landscape that is permanent.

Ultimately, the visit leaves one with a image of Accra that feels like a manifesto for ecological stewardship and the safeguarding of culture. It is a resonant homage to perseverance in all its expressions.