🔗 Share this article

After more than fifty installments navigating the international Black diaspora, this marks a concluding piece. The journey was deeply rewarding, and sincere thanks directed to all the dedicated audience.

Exploring the Accra Festival

Experiencing the displays, artworks and performances of Accra Cultural Week, one sees how exceptional art feeds and shapes a nation's heritage and identity. The highlight was certainly Clottey's remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which showcased his groundbreaking afrogallonism on full display: a approach that converts yellow jerrycans into mesmerizing creations, mosaics of yellow, brass and gold. The show was created as a testament to the resilience of the historic district, a venerable quarter of Accra.

The community – mainly home to the Ga ethnic group, a community of fishermen – is furthermore where numerous freed slaves returned from Brazil and settled in the 1830s. Referred to as the Tabom community, they introduced Brazilian language and traditions.

In every part of Jamestown, you can see a blend of architectural styles. There’s Fort Vicentia, boasting its unique European-style construction and curved entrances. Also present is the iconic beacon, constructed in the 1871 and subsequently featuring its distinctive banded appearance.

A Culture of Remembrance

Also striking about Jamestown is the ever-present sight of memorial notices. Wherever you look, whether covering walls or on sizable hoardings, there are funeral details and expressions of mourning. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, final rites are significant social gatherings.

In this spectacular exhibition, every aspect of the sights, sounds and religious textures of Jamestown are evoked – especially in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa piece. Here, visitors are calmed by the audio of crashing waves with sand underfoot, while beach huts, nets and representations of boats celebrate its vibrant, multigenerational maritime community. However standing in this venue, it's hard to ignore the heaps of textile waste that threaten the beauty and peace of the area.

Beyond the Headline Act

There is a great deal more. Inside an unfinished structure at the campus, artist Reginald Sylvester II presented a deeply moving minimalist collection, an emotionally powerful, minimalist show that included three-dimensional works and canvases made in collaboration with metalworkers.

Another key element is the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It featured the debut presentation of a prior recipient, whose work draws on historical documents to produce a depiction of life in Ghana after independence. The event also crowned a new champion, whose multidisciplinary work is intensely invested in the craft techniques of women in a specific region.

An Enduring Presence

Although the overseas community has increasingly been drawn back to west Africa in the western winter, an increasing number are thinking about journeying earlier in the year to engage with the region’s festival period. Between Accra Cultural Week and other major events, what you’ll find are creative communities that are not simply nascent or “upcoming” but have forged an whole universe that is enduring.

Ultimately, the visit leaves one with a vision of Accra that resembles a manifesto for conservation and the keeping alive of tradition. It is a resonant homage to perseverance in all its expressions.