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In the wake of in excess of fifty issues navigating the international Black diaspora, this marks a final column. The tenure was deeply rewarding, and great thanks offered to all the attentive audience.

A Look Inside the Accra Festival

Experiencing the displays, installations and shows of this event, observers witness how superior art sustains and shapes a nation's past and character. The focal point was undoubtedly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s exquisite [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his pioneering afrogallonism in full view: a approach that reimagines yellow jerrycans into captivating creations, mosaics of golden hues. The display was created as a tribute to the resilience of this area, a historic area of Accra.

This area – largely home to the Ga people, a seafaring people – is additionally where numerous returning Africans arrived from Brazil and established themselves in the 1830s. Called the Tabom community, they carried with them Brazilian language and culture.

Throughout Jamestown, one observes a mix of architecture. Standing is a historic building, featuring its distinct colonial-era masonry and door arches. One can also see the famous beacon, built in the 1871 and later sporting its recognizable red-and-white-striped facade.

Traditions of Celebration

Equally remarkable about Jamestown is the pervasive presence of obituary announcements. On every corner, whether plastered over alleyways or on big billboards, one finds announcements and terms of farewell. In Jamestown, mirroring customs in Ghana, funerals are major community celebrations.

In the artist's breathtaking installation, all of the visual and auditory essence of Jamestown are present – especially in the enveloping beach-themed work. Here, you’re soothed by the sound of ocean surf with granules underfoot, while shacks, nets and depictions of canoes honour its dynamic, multigenerational maritime community. Yet experiencing this gallery, it's hard to ignore the heaps of discarded clothing that threaten the aesthetics and serenity of the area.

Apart from the Main Event

The festival program included much more. Within an incomplete building at the University of Ghana, artist Sylvester exhibited On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, austere presentation that included three-dimensional works and artworks produced in concert with metalworkers.

Also featured was the competition for female artists for female Ghanaian artists. It included the debut presentation of a recent laureate, whose work draws on personal family archives to create a artistic representation of life in Ghana after independence. The event also announced a current winner, whose multidisciplinary work is intensely invested in the craft techniques of women in the Volta region.

A Permanent Presence

While the overseas community has more and more been attracted home to Ghana in the western winter, more and more are contemplating journeying earlier in the year to immerse themselves in the area's artistic calendar. Between this festival and other major events, what is evident are creative communities that are not merely new or “rising” but have built up an whole universe that is permanent.

In the end, the journey leaves one with a vision of Accra that serves as a declaration for environmental protection and the preservation of tradition. It is a compelling tribute to resilience in all its expressions.