🔗 Share this article

Following more than 50 issues delving into the international Black diaspora, this marks a final dispatch. The tenure was profoundly rewarding, and immense gratitude directed to every one of the dedicated followers.

Exploring Accra Cultural Week

Visiting the displays, presentations and acts of Accra Cultural Week, one sees how exceptional art sustains and constructs a country’s past and essence. The focal point was certainly Clottey's exquisite [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which put his groundbreaking afrogallonism on full display: a philosophy that converts plastic containers into captivating art pieces, assemblages of metallic tones. The display was created as a homage to the endurance of Jamestown, a venerable area of Accra.

Jamestown – mainly populated by the Ga community, a fishing community – is also where a great number of returning Africans arrived from Brazil and established themselves in the 1830s. Referred to as the Tabom, they carried with them Portuguese language and culture.

All across Jamestown, one observes a blend of architectural styles. You'll find Franklin House, boasting its unique colonial-era construction and curved entrances. Also present is the prominent Jamestown Lighthouse, erected in the 19th century and eventually sporting its signature red-and-white-striped facade.

A Culture of Mourning

Equally notable about Jamestown is the ever-present sight of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, be it affixed to walls or on sizable signboards, you’ll see service information and expressions of loss. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, memorial services are large-scale community celebrations.

In Clottey’s spectacular show, all of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – notably in the engaging shoreline piece. In this space, visitors are calmed by the sound of the sea with granules at your feet, while shelters, draped nets and representations of canoes pay homage to its dynamic, long-standing seafaring tradition. Yet standing in this exhibition space, one cannot help but think of the heaps of textile waste that compromise the aesthetics and tranquillity of the region.

In Addition to the Main Event

Accra Cultural Week also features a great deal more. Inside an raw space at the campus, creator Reginald Sylvester II exhibited On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, minimalist presentation that included sculptures and paintings made in concert with welders.

Another key element is the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It included the inaugural exhibition of a prior recipient, whose work utilizes historical documents to produce a visual impression of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also honored a current champion, whose diverse work is particularly concerned with the craft techniques of women in a specific region.

A Lasting Presence

While the diaspora has more and more been pulled home to Ghana during the winter months, an increasing number are considering travelling for the cultural season to immerse themselves in the region’s artistic calendar. From this festival and other major events, what is evident are creative communities that are not merely new or “rising” but have established an complete landscape that is enduring.

Ultimately, the experience offers a vision of Accra that feels like a declaration for environmental protection and the preservation of tradition. It is a resonant tribute to adaptability in all its expressions.