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After in excess of fifty issues delving into the global Black diaspora, this marks a final dispatch. The journey proved incredibly rewarding, and immense thanks offered to every one of the engaged followers.

Inside the Cultural Week

Experiencing the showcases, artworks and acts of Accra Cultural Week, observers witness how exceptional art nourishes and constructs a nation's past and identity. The centrepiece was without doubt Serge Attukwei Clottey’s stunning [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which showcased his pioneering afrogallonism in full view: a concept that reimagines plastic containers into mesmerizing creations, tapestries of yellow, brass and gold. The show was conceived as a tribute to the endurance of Jamestown, a venerable neighbourhood of Accra.

This area – mainly home to the Ga ethnic group, a community of fishermen – is furthermore where numerous returning Africans arrived from South America and made their home in the 1830s. Known as the Tabom, they brought Portuguese tongue and culture.

In every part of Jamestown, visitors encounter a mix of building designs. There’s Fort Vicentia, with its characteristic Portuguese masonry and door arches. One can also see the iconic lighthouse of Jamestown, built in the 1871 and subsequently given its recognizable banded facade.

Customs of Celebration

Also striking about Jamestown is the ever-present presence of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, whether plastered over buildings or on sizable hoardings, one finds announcements and phrases of farewell. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are major communal events.

In this breathtaking show, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – particularly in the engaging Jamestown nshonaa work. In this space, one is relaxed by the audio of the sea with beach material on the floor, while shacks, draped nets and depictions of canoes pay homage to its vibrant, long-standing maritime community. But standing in this exhibition space, the mind turns to the heaps of cast-off garments that mar the charm and serenity of the area.

Apart from the Main Event

The festival program included additional highlights. Within an unfinished structure at the campus, artist Sylvester exhibited a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, austere exhibition that included three-dimensional works and paintings created in collaboration with metalworkers.

Another key element is the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It included the first solo show of a 2024 laureate, whose work draws on familial archival records to craft a depiction of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also announced a current winner, whose varied work is particularly focused on the textile traditions of women in the Volta region.

A Lasting Legacy

While the overseas community has more and more been drawn back to west Africa during the western winter, a growing cohort are thinking about travelling for the cultural season to experience the area's cultural season. Between Accra Cultural Week and regional art fairs, what you’ll find are cultural ecosystems that are not simply new or “rising” but have forged an entire world that is permanent.

In the end, the experience leaves one with a vision of Accra that feels like a statement for environmental protection and the keeping alive of culture. It is a powerful tribute to resilience in all its expressions.