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Following more than fifty installments delving into the worldwide Black diaspora, this signifies a last dispatch. The experience was deeply gratifying, and great appreciation offered to every one of the attentive readers.

A Look Inside the Accra Festival

Experiencing the exhibitions, installations and performances of this event, it becomes clear how the finest art sustains and builds a country’s heritage and character. The centrepiece was without doubt Serge Attukwei Clottey’s remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his groundbreaking afrogallonism in full view: a philosophy that transforms water vessels into captivating art pieces, mosaics of yellow, brass and gold. The show was created as a tribute to the endurance of this area, a historical quarter of Accra.

Jamestown – largely populated by the Ga ethnic group, a seafaring people – is furthermore where numerous returning Africans came back from Brazil and made their home in the 1830s. Known as the Tabom community, they brought Brazilian language and customs.

All across Jamestown, you can see a fusion of building designs. You'll find a historic building, boasting its characteristic colonial-era brickwork and arched doorways. One can also see the famous beacon, constructed in the 1871 and later given its signature red-and-white-striped exterior.

Traditions of Celebration

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the ever-present sight of memorial notices. Wherever you look, be it plastered over alleyways or on larger billboards, there are service information and terms of mourning. In Jamestown, similar to the rest of Ghana, final rites are significant community celebrations.

In the artist's impressive installation, all of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – notably in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa work. Here, you’re soothed by the sound of ocean surf with sand at your feet, while shacks, hanging fishing nets and images of canoes honour its vibrant, multigenerational fishing community. Yet standing in this venue, the mind turns to the mountains of textile waste that compromise the charm and peace of the region.

Apart from the Headline Act

There is much more. Housed in an raw space at the University of Ghana, creator Sylvester showcased On the Other Side of Languish, an incredibly moving, minimalist presentation that included three-dimensional works and paintings produced in collaboration with welders.

Another key element is the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It showcased the debut presentation of a recent laureate, whose work draws on historical documents to craft a depiction of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also honored a current winner, whose multidisciplinary work is deeply concerned with the textile traditions of women in Dabala.

A Permanent Presence

Although the overseas community has grown been drawn back to the region during the western winter, a growing cohort are considering visiting earlier in the year to engage with the region’s festival period. Between this festival and regional art fairs, what you’ll find are art scenes that are not merely nascent or “upcoming” but have forged an whole world that is here to stay.

In the end, the journey provides a vision of Accra that serves as a statement for ecological stewardship and the safeguarding of heritage. It is a resonant homage to perseverance in all its expressions.