Exploring Accra's art with Nana Oforiatta Ayim

DW (English)

We're taking a stop in Ghana's capital, Accra. It is home to a vibrant, contemporary art scene. Curator and author Nana Oforiatta Ayim shows us some hotspots.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Nana Ofriat Ayim. I'm a writer, art historian and curator.

00:04Welcome, this is my city.

00:10We're here in the capital of my country, Ghana, and this is Black Star Square.

00:15This is where we celebrate the freedom and the independence of our country.

00:20And I'm here today to celebrate the creativity and ingenuity of our city.

00:25Accra is on the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Africa.

00:29Around five million people live in Accra, where there are many different kinds of industry,

00:35including fishing, manufacturing, finance and transportation, amongst many others.

00:44It is a vibrant city with much creativity.

00:48Jamestown is one of the oldest areas of Accra and home of the Ga people.

00:53Trade began internally with the forest areas, and then with those from outside,

00:58like the Portuguese, British, Dutch, Swedes and Danes.

01:03What began as friendly trade relationships quickly turned violent,

01:08especially with the increasing horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.

01:13In our creative expression and production, we're still grappling with the legacies of imperialism,

01:19slavery, colonialism, nation-building, and what it means to make our futures.

01:26I'm now going to meet the exciting artist Kwesi D'Arco.

01:28Kwesi's studio is always a great place to visit.

01:31Every time I'm here, Kwesi's always creating something new.

01:34I'm excited to see his latest pieces, which involve him working on car doors.

01:40So, tell me about this body of work that you're working on.

01:43The title of this project is One-Way Vision.

01:46It takes inspiration from a lot of things.

01:50Amongst Kwesi's inspirations are the trotrors,

01:52privately owned minibuses that serve as transportation across the country.

02:00The word trot comes from the Ga term for three pence,

02:02which was the bus fare when Ghana was still using the British West African pound.

02:08Trotrors are often personalized with sayings and stickers,

02:11which are known as one-way stickers.

02:15The name comes from a certain specific printing technique.

02:18I realized a lot of Ghanaian transports adopted this technique.

02:22And for me, I was curious about the fact that these people were curating images.

02:27And I thought, wow, this is a really interesting technique.

02:30So, I decided to go with it.

02:32I was curious about the fact that these people were curating images.

02:37Some talk about life, some have political undertones, social commentary.

02:43It's a way of people just expressing their opinions without even seeing the words out loud.

02:49There's art all around, even though we don't notice it.

02:51Exactly.

02:53Kwesi is inspired by the creativity and ways of expression at work on the trotrors,

02:58in a place where everything is art.

03:02To make one-way vision, Kwesi spent time at the local trotror station,

03:06where he took photos and videos of all around him.

03:15You know, it's almost like seeing the street as an exhibition space.

03:19Exactly.

03:20Really exciting.

03:22And you said there's an AR aspect as well?

03:23Yes, I can show you.

03:25Kwesi has used augmented reality, or AR,

03:28to embed QR codes that link his videos and make them come to life.

03:39And so, it's a way to get people moving through the space.

03:43And so, I was like on the street and I saw somebody had

03:46written on their car, in Kabuma Odo, which is community brings love.

03:50I love that you're bringing in technology

03:53to bring these kind of exhibition models to life.

04:08Do you want to be photographed?

04:10Let's see.

04:13He's also a great photographer,

04:15and we end our visit with a photo shoot near his home.

04:18And I love how your dress matches the patterns of everything around you.

04:22The green, the brown.

04:24Nice.

04:25Like a performance picture.

04:26Performance, exactly.

04:27Yeah.

04:28I actually really like this.

04:29Thanks so much for coming.

04:32Nice to see you.

04:33Likewise.

04:34Take care, and I'll see you very soon.

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