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In the wake of more than fifty issues navigating the international Black diaspora, this marks a final column. The tenure has been deeply fulfilling, with sincere appreciation offered to every one of the attentive audience.

Exploring Accra Cultural Week

Attending the exhibitions, presentations and acts of the festival, it becomes clear how superior art feeds and shapes a country’s history and character. The highlight was undoubtedly the artist's remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his groundbreaking afrogallonism on full display: a concept that transforms water vessels into captivating creations, tapestries of yellow, brass and gold. The display was created as a testament to the strength of Jamestown, a historical quarter of Accra.

Jamestown – largely inhabited by the Ga community, a community of fishermen – is furthermore where numerous returning Africans arrived from Brazil and made their home in the 1830s. Known as the Tabom, they introduced Brazilian tongue and customs.

Throughout Jamestown, one observes a mix of architectural styles. You'll find Fort Vicentia, featuring its characteristic Portuguese masonry and curved entrances. Another landmark is the prominent lighthouse of Jamestown, built in the 1871 and later given its recognizable banded facade.

Traditions of Remembrance

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous sight of memorial notices. On every corner, be it covering alleyways or on sizable billboards, you’ll see service information and phrases of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are significant social gatherings.

In Clottey’s breathtaking show, all of the sights, sounds and religious textures of Jamestown are evoked – especially in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa work. In this space, visitors are calmed by the audio of ocean surf with granules on the floor, while beach huts, nets and depictions of vessels celebrate its spirited, multigenerational maritime community. Yet experiencing this gallery, the mind turns to the piles of cast-off garments that mar the charm and serenity of the shoreline.

In Addition to the Main Event

Accra Cultural Week also features a great deal more. Inside an incomplete building at the campus, artist Reginald Sylvester II showcased a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, stripped-back presentation that included three-dimensional works and artworks created in collaboration with metalworkers.

And then there is the competition for female artists for Ghanaian women creators. It featured the inaugural exhibition of a prior recipient, whose work draws on familial archival records to produce a depiction of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also crowned a current winner, whose diverse work is intensely concerned with the craft techniques of women in the Volta region.

An Enduring Legacy

Although the overseas community has grown been drawn back to the region in the colder season, more and more are contemplating journeying some months earlier to experience the area's cultural season. Between this festival and other major events, what is evident are art scenes that are not merely nascent or “upcoming” but have built up an complete landscape that is here to stay.

Ultimately, the visit leaves one with a image of Accra that feels like a manifesto for environmental protection and the safeguarding of tradition. It is a resonant homage to perseverance in all its manifestations.