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After over fifty installments exploring the global Black diaspora, this represents a concluding column. The tenure has been incredibly rewarding, with great thanks directed to every one of the attentive followers.

A Look Inside the Accra Festival

Visiting the showcases, presentations and performances of the festival, one sees how exceptional art nourishes and shapes a country’s heritage and character. The focal point was without doubt Clottey's remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his innovative afrogallonism in full view: a concept that reimagines water vessels into illusory works of art, assemblages of yellow, brass and gold. The display was designed as a tribute to the strength of this area, a venerable neighbourhood of Accra.

The community – mainly home to the Ga people, a seafaring people – is additionally where numerous formerly enslaved people arrived from South America and settled in the 1830s. Known as the Tabom, they carried with them Portuguese language and customs.

All across Jamestown, visitors encounter a mix of architecture. You'll find Franklin House, featuring its unique colonial-era brickwork and door arches. One can also see the prominent Jamestown Lighthouse, constructed in the 1871 and later featuring its recognizable striped appearance.

Customs of Celebration

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the pervasive presence of funeral posters. Wherever you look, be it affixed to buildings or on sizable billboards, one finds service information and phrases of mourning. In Jamestown, mirroring customs in Ghana, memorial services are large-scale community celebrations.

In Clottey’s spectacular show, all of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – especially in the immersive shoreline work. Within it, one is relaxed by the sound of the sea with beach material underfoot, while beach huts, draped nets and images of boats pay homage to its spirited, multigenerational fishing community. But standing in this exhibition space, one cannot help but think of the mountains of cast-off garments that compromise the beauty and tranquillity of the region.

In Addition to the Centrepiece

Accra Cultural Week also features additional highlights. Housed in an raw space at the campus, artist Sylvester presented On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, austere presentation that displayed three-dimensional works and canvases made in collaboration with metalworkers.

Another key element is the prestigious art award for Ghanaian women creators. It showcased the first solo show of a recent winner, whose work draws on personal family archives to produce a artistic representation of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also honored a new champion, whose varied work is deeply concerned with the textile traditions of women in Dabala.

An Enduring Presence

Although the overseas community has increasingly been pulled back to Ghana during the colder season, more and more are contemplating visiting earlier in the year to engage with the area's artistic calendar. Between Accra Cultural Week and similar gatherings, what is evident are art scenes that are not merely emerging or “rising” but have built up an whole landscape that is permanent.

In the end, the visit offers a perception of Accra that feels like a declaration for ecological stewardship and the safeguarding of tradition. It is a compelling tribute to resilience in all its expressions.