🔗 Share this article

After more than fifty issues delving into the global Black diaspora, this marks a last column. The tenure proved incredibly gratifying, with immense gratitude directed to all the dedicated audience.

A Look Inside the Cultural Week

Experiencing the showcases, artworks and performances of Accra Cultural Week, one sees how superior art nourishes and constructs a country’s history and character. The highlight was undoubtedly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s remarkable a profound exploration of ritual and time, which displayed his groundbreaking afrogallonism for all to see: a concept that converts plastic containers into illusory creations, assemblages of golden hues. The exhibition was created as a testament to the endurance of this area, a venerable quarter of Accra.

This area – mainly populated by the Ga community, a community of fishermen – is additionally where numerous formerly enslaved people returned from South America and established themselves in the 19th century. Called the Tabom people, they brought Portuguese tongue and culture.

Throughout Jamestown, one observes a mix of building designs. You'll find a historic building, with its unique European-style brickwork and curved entrances. Also present is the iconic beacon, constructed in the 1871 and eventually featuring its recognizable banded appearance.

Customs of Celebration

Furthermore striking about Jamestown is the ever-present presence of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, whether plastered over walls or on larger signboards, you’ll see service information and expressions of loss. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, memorial services are significant community celebrations.

In the artist's breathtaking show, all of the visual and auditory essence of Jamestown are evoked – especially in the engaging Jamestown nshonaa work. Within it, you’re soothed by the recording of the sea with beach material underfoot, while shacks, nets and images of boats celebrate its spirited, generational maritime community. Yet standing in this exhibition space, the mind turns to the heaps of discarded clothing that mar the charm and peace of the shoreline.

Beyond the Main Event

The festival program included much more. Housed in an incomplete building at the campus, artist Reginald Sylvester II showcased On the Other Side of Languish, an incredibly moving, austere presentation that featured three-dimensional works and canvases produced in partnership with metalworkers.

And then there is the prestigious art award for Ghanaian women creators. It showcased the inaugural exhibition of a prior winner, whose work draws on personal family archives to produce a visual impression of life in the nation's recent history. The event also honored a new champion, whose varied work is intensely concerned with the weaving practices of women in the Volta region.

A Lasting Impact

Although the overseas community has increasingly been drawn back to the region during the colder season, more and more are considering journeying earlier in the year to experience the region’s festival period. Between this festival and regional art fairs, what emerges are cultural ecosystems that are not simply emerging or “rising” but have forged an complete universe that is here to stay.

In the end, the visit leaves one with a perception of Accra that serves as a statement for environmental protection and the preservation of tradition. It is a resonant homage to perseverance in all its forms.