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Following in excess of 50 issues exploring the worldwide Black diaspora, this represents a last piece. The experience was deeply gratifying, and immense thanks extended to all the attentive audience.

Exploring the Accra Festival

Visiting the showcases, presentations and shows of this event, observers witness how exceptional art nourishes and constructs a nation's history and character. The focal point was certainly the artist's remarkable a profound exploration of ritual and time, which displayed his pioneering afrogallonism in full view: a philosophy that transforms yellow jerrycans into illusory creations, mosaics of metallic tones. The display was conceived as a testament to the strength of Jamestown, a historic area of Accra.

The community – mainly home to the Ga people, a community of fishermen – is also where numerous freed slaves arrived from Brazil and settled in the 1830s. Called the Tabom, they introduced Portuguese tongue and customs.

All across Jamestown, visitors encounter a mix of architecture. Standing is a historic building, featuring its characteristic colonial-era brickwork and door arches. Also present is the prominent beacon, constructed in the 1800s and subsequently featuring its signature red-and-white-striped exterior.

Customs of Celebration

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous presence of obituary announcements. On every corner, whether affixed to walls or on big signboards, one finds funeral details and terms of farewell. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, memorial services are significant social gatherings.

In Clottey’s spectacular exhibition, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – notably in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa work. In this space, you’re soothed by the recording of crashing waves with granules at your feet, while shelters, draped nets and images of vessels celebrate its dynamic, generational fishing community. But standing in this gallery, one cannot help but think of the piles of discarded clothing that mar the beauty and serenity of the region.

Apart from the Centrepiece

The festival program included a great deal more. Housed in an incomplete building at the campus, creator Sylvester showcased On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, austere presentation that included three-dimensional works and canvases created in collaboration with metalworkers.

Another key element is the Yaa Asantewaa Art prize for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It included the first solo show of a recent recipient, whose work references personal family archives to produce a depiction of life in Ghana after independence. The event also honored a new winner, whose varied work is intensely focused on the craft techniques of women in a specific region.

An Enduring Impact

Although the diaspora has increasingly been drawn back to west Africa in the winter months, a growing cohort are contemplating journeying earlier in the year to engage with the area's cultural season. Between this festival and other major events, what you’ll find are art scenes that are not merely nascent or “upcoming” but have built up an entire world that is here to stay.

In the end, the experience leaves one with a perception of Accra that resembles a statement for ecological stewardship and the keeping alive of tradition. It is a powerful homage to perseverance in all its forms.