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Following in excess of fifty installments navigating the international Black diaspora, this represents a final piece. The tenure was incredibly rewarding, and immense appreciation offered to all the dedicated audience.

A Look Inside the Cultural Week

Visiting the displays, installations and performances of Accra Cultural Week, observers witness how exceptional art sustains and constructs a nation's heritage and identity. The highlight was certainly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his groundbreaking afrogallonism for all to see: a approach that reimagines plastic containers into captivating works of art, assemblages of yellow, brass and gold. The show was conceived as a homage to the resilience of Jamestown, a venerable neighbourhood of Accra.

This area – predominantly populated by the Ga ethnic group, a seafaring people – is furthermore where numerous freed slaves came back from Brazil and settled in the 19th century. Known as the Tabom people, they brought Brazilian language and culture.

All across Jamestown, visitors encounter a blend of building designs. There’s a historic building, with its characteristic colonial-era construction and curved entrances. Another landmark is the famous lighthouse of Jamestown, erected in the 19th century and later given its signature banded facade.

Customs of Mourning

Equally remarkable about Jamestown is the ever-present sight of memorial notices. Everywhere you turn, whether covering walls or on larger billboards, there are funeral details and expressions of farewell. In Jamestown, mirroring customs in Ghana, funerals are significant communal events.

In the artist's impressive show, the entirety of the visual and auditory essence of Jamestown are evoked – especially in the immersive beach-themed work. Here, you’re soothed by the recording of the sea with sand at your feet, while shelters, nets and depictions of vessels pay homage to its spirited, long-standing maritime community. But being present in this exhibition space, the mind turns to the heaps of discarded clothing that mar the charm and peace of the area.

In Addition to the Main Event

There is additional highlights. Within an unfinished structure at the local university, creator Sylvester exhibited a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, minimalist exhibition that included sculptures and paintings produced in collaboration with metalworkers.

Also featured was the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It showcased the inaugural exhibition of a prior recipient, whose work draws on familial archival records to produce a depiction of life in Ghana after independence. The event also crowned a current champion, whose diverse work is intensely concerned with the textile traditions of women in the Volta region.

An Enduring Impact

Although the diaspora has increasingly been attracted home to the region during the winter months, a growing cohort are thinking about journeying earlier in the year to immerse themselves in the region’s artistic calendar. Between Accra Cultural Week and regional art fairs, what emerges are creative communities that are not simply emerging or “upcoming” but have built up an whole landscape that is permanent.

In the end, the experience offers a vision of Accra that resembles a manifesto for ecological stewardship and the preservation of tradition. It is a compelling homage to resilience in all its manifestations.