After more than 50 editions navigating the international Black diaspora, this marks a last piece. The experience was deeply fulfilling, and immense appreciation offered to every one of the attentive followers.
Attending the showcases, artworks and shows of this event, one sees how exceptional art sustains and builds a country’s history and character. The highlight was undoubtedly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his innovative afrogallonism in full view: a approach that converts plastic containers into illusory creations, mosaics of yellow, brass and gold. The show was conceived as a tribute to the strength of this area, a historic quarter of Accra.
This area – predominantly home to the Ga people, a community of fishermen – is also where numerous returning Africans arrived from Brazil and settled in the 19th century. Called the Tabom community, they introduced Portuguese language and customs.
All across Jamestown, you can see a blend of architectural styles. There’s Fort Vicentia, featuring its unique Portuguese brickwork and arched doorways. One can also see the famous lighthouse of Jamestown, constructed in the 19th century and later sporting its signature red-and-white-striped appearance.
Furthermore remarkable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous presence of memorial notices. Wherever you look, be it covering walls or on larger hoardings, one finds funeral details and expressions of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, final rites are major community celebrations.
In Clottey’s breathtaking installation, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are present – particularly in the immersive beach-themed piece. Here, visitors are calmed by the recording of ocean surf with sand at your feet, while shelters, draped nets and representations of vessels honour its vibrant, generational maritime community. However experiencing this gallery, one cannot help but think of the mountains of textile waste that mar the beauty and serenity of the area.
The festival program included much more. Within an unfinished structure at the local university, artist Reginald Sylvester II presented a deeply moving minimalist collection, an incredibly moving, austere show that featured sculptures and paintings created in concert with metalworkers.
Also featured was the Yaa Asantewaa Art prize for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It included the first solo show of a prior laureate, whose work references personal family archives to craft a visual impression of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also announced a new champion, whose varied work is intensely focused on the textile traditions of women in Dabala.
Although the diaspora has increasingly been pulled back to Ghana in the western winter, a growing cohort are thinking about travelling some months earlier to immerse themselves in the region’s festival period. From Accra Cultural Week and similar gatherings, what you’ll find are art scenes that are not simply emerging or “rising” but have established an complete world that is here to stay.
In the end, the experience provides a perception of Accra that feels like a declaration for environmental protection and the keeping alive of heritage. It is a resonant testament to perseverance in all its forms.
