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After more than 50 issues navigating the international Black diaspora, this marks a concluding piece. The experience was profoundly gratifying, with great thanks directed to all the engaged audience.

Inside the Accra Festival

Attending the exhibitions, artworks and performances of the festival, it becomes clear how superior art feeds and constructs a country’s heritage and identity. The centrepiece was certainly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s stunning [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his innovative afrogallonism on full display: a approach that reimagines yellow jerrycans into mesmerizing works of art, mosaics of metallic tones. The show was conceived as a testament to the resilience of Jamestown, a historic quarter of Accra.

Jamestown – predominantly populated by the Ga ethnic group, a fishing community – is additionally where many formerly enslaved people returned from South America and established themselves in the 19th century. Referred to as the Tabom people, they introduced Brazilian language and culture.

All across Jamestown, you can see a mix of architectural styles. Standing is a historic building, featuring its unique colonial-era brickwork and door arches. Another landmark is the prominent beacon, erected in the 1871 and subsequently sporting its recognizable banded appearance.

Traditions of Celebration

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the pervasive presence of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, be it plastered over alleyways or on big billboards, there are service information and terms of mourning. In Jamestown, mirroring customs in Ghana, funerals are large-scale social gatherings.

In the artist's impressive installation, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are captured – notably in the immersive beach-themed piece. Here, visitors are calmed by the sound of crashing waves with beach material on the floor, while beach huts, draped nets and images of boats pay homage to its vibrant, multigenerational fishing community. Yet standing in this venue, it's hard to ignore the heaps of textile waste that compromise the aesthetics and serenity of the area.

Apart from the Headline Act

Accra Cultural Week also features much more. Housed in an incomplete building at the campus, creator Reginald Sylvester II exhibited On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, stripped-back show that included sculptures and artworks created in partnership with welders.

Also featured was the prestigious art award for Ghanaian women creators. It included the first solo show of a recent laureate, whose work references personal family archives to craft a depiction of life in post-independence Ghana. The event also honored a current winner, whose varied work is deeply invested in the weaving practices of women in Dabala.

An Enduring Impact

Although the overseas community has more and more been drawn back to Ghana during the colder season, an increasing number are considering travelling earlier in the year to experience the area's artistic calendar. Between Accra Cultural Week and regional art fairs, what is evident are creative communities that are not merely emerging or “rising” but have built up an entire universe that is permanent.

Ultimately, the journey leaves one with a perception of Accra that feels like a manifesto for environmental protection and the keeping alive of culture. It is a resonant homage to resilience in all its manifestations.