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After in excess of 50 editions exploring the global Black diaspora, this marks a final dispatch. The journey was profoundly fulfilling, with sincere appreciation offered to all the dedicated followers.

A Look Inside the Accra Festival

Experiencing the exhibitions, installations and performances of Accra Cultural Week, one sees how superior art sustains and constructs a country’s history and identity. The highlight was undoubtedly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s stunning [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which showcased his pioneering afrogallonism in full view: a approach that reimagines plastic containers into illusory art pieces, assemblages of yellow, brass and gold. The show was created as a testament to the resilience of Jamestown, a historic area of Accra.

Jamestown – predominantly home to the Ga people, a seafaring people – is additionally where a great number of freed slaves returned from South America and established themselves in the 1830s. Called the Tabom people, they carried with them Portuguese tongue and traditions.

All across Jamestown, you can see a blend of architecture. You'll find a historic building, with its distinct colonial-era masonry and door arches. Another landmark is the prominent Jamestown Lighthouse, built in the 19th century and subsequently given its recognizable red-and-white-striped facade.

Customs of Celebration

Also striking about Jamestown is the ubiquitous presence of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, whether plastered over walls or on sizable billboards, there are announcements and expressions of mourning. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, funerals are significant communal events.

In Clottey’s spectacular installation, the entirety of the visual and auditory essence of Jamestown are present – notably in the engaging shoreline piece. Here, you’re soothed by the recording of the sea with beach material underfoot, while shelters, hanging fishing nets and representations of boats pay homage to its dynamic, multigenerational maritime community. Yet standing in this gallery, the mind turns to the heaps of textile waste that compromise the aesthetics and tranquillity of the shoreline.

Beyond the Main Event

Accra Cultural Week also features additional highlights. Within an raw space at the campus, artist Reginald Sylvester II presented On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, minimalist show that displayed three-dimensional works and canvases made in partnership with artisans.

And then there is the prestigious art award for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It included the debut presentation of a prior laureate, whose work references personal family archives to create a depiction of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also honored a latest winner, whose diverse work is particularly invested in the craft techniques of women in the Volta region.

An Enduring Presence

While the global African community has increasingly been attracted back to west Africa in the colder season, a growing cohort are thinking about visiting some months earlier to engage with the region’s cultural season. From Accra Cultural Week and regional art fairs, what you’ll find are art scenes that are not merely emerging or “rising” but have forged an complete universe that is permanent.

In the end, the visit offers a image of Accra that serves as a declaration for conservation and the preservation of culture. It is a compelling homage to resilience in all its forms.