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Following over 50 issues navigating the worldwide Black diaspora, this marks a concluding piece. The experience was profoundly gratifying, with sincere gratitude directed to every one of the dedicated audience.

Inside the Cultural Week

Attending the exhibitions, artworks and performances of this event, it becomes clear how the finest art sustains and shapes a country’s history and essence. The highlight was certainly Clottey's exquisite [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which showcased his pioneering afrogallonism in full view: a philosophy that converts water vessels into captivating creations, tapestries of metallic tones. The display was created as a testament to the resilience of Jamestown, a historic neighbourhood of Accra.

This area – mainly home to the Ga people, a fishing community – is also where numerous returning Africans came back from South America and established themselves in the 19th century. Referred to as the Tabom, they brought Brazilian tongue and traditions.

All across Jamestown, visitors encounter a fusion of architecture. There’s Fort Vicentia, boasting its unique colonial-era masonry and door arches. One can also see the prominent Jamestown Lighthouse, constructed in the 1871 and subsequently given its signature striped facade.

Traditions of Remembrance

Also remarkable about Jamestown is the ever-present presence of obituary announcements. On every corner, whether plastered over alleyways or on larger billboards, one finds service information and phrases of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, final rites are large-scale communal events.

In this impressive exhibition, all of the visual and auditory essence of Jamestown are present – notably in the immersive Jamestown nshonaa piece. In this space, you’re soothed by the audio of ocean surf with granules on the floor, while shelters, nets and images of vessels celebrate its dynamic, generational fishing community. But being present in this exhibition space, one cannot help but think of the piles of discarded clothing that mar the beauty and tranquillity of the region.

Apart from the Main Event

Accra Cultural Week also features a great deal more. Within an incomplete building at the campus, creator Reginald Sylvester II showcased a deeply moving minimalist collection, an incredibly moving, stripped-back presentation that featured three-dimensional works and paintings created in partnership with artisans.

And then there is the Yaa Asantewaa Art prize for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It featured the debut presentation of a 2024 laureate, whose work references familial archival records to produce a artistic representation of life in the nation's recent history. The event also crowned a latest champion, whose varied work is intensely concerned with the weaving practices of women in the Volta region.

A Permanent Legacy

Although the global African community has more and more been pulled back to Ghana during the winter months, a growing cohort are contemplating journeying earlier in the year to engage with the region’s cultural season. Between Accra Cultural Week and other major events, what emerges are art scenes that are not simply emerging or “upcoming” but have established an whole landscape that is permanent.

Ultimately, the experience leaves one with a vision of Accra that serves as a statement for ecological stewardship and the safeguarding of heritage. It is a compelling testament to perseverance in all its forms.