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Following in excess of fifty installments exploring the global Black diaspora, this represents a concluding piece. The journey has been profoundly rewarding, with sincere thanks offered to every one of the attentive followers.

Exploring Accra Cultural Week

Visiting the displays, presentations and acts of this event, observers witness how superior art sustains and builds a nation's past and character. The highlight was without doubt Serge Attukwei Clottey’s stunning a profound exploration of ritual and time, which showcased his pioneering afrogallonism for all to see: a philosophy that transforms yellow jerrycans into captivating creations, mosaics of golden hues. The exhibition was designed as a testament to the strength of the historic district, a venerable quarter of Accra.

Jamestown – predominantly home to the Ga ethnic group, a seafaring people – is additionally where many formerly enslaved people returned from South America and made their home in the 1830s. Referred to as the Tabom, they carried with them Portuguese language and culture.

Throughout Jamestown, you can see a mix of architecture. Standing is Fort Vicentia, featuring its unique colonial-era brickwork and curved entrances. Another landmark is the famous lighthouse of Jamestown, constructed in the 1800s and eventually given its signature banded appearance.

Traditions of Remembrance

Also notable about Jamestown is the pervasive presence of funeral posters. Wherever you look, be it plastered over walls or on big billboards, you’ll see service information and phrases of mourning. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, final rites are major communal events.

In this spectacular exhibition, every aspect of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are evoked – notably in the immersive beach-themed installation. Within it, one is relaxed by the audio of the sea with sand at your feet, while shacks, draped nets and images of canoes celebrate its spirited, generational maritime community. However standing in this gallery, it's hard to ignore the heaps of cast-off garments that mar the charm and peace of the region.

Beyond the Centrepiece

The festival program included much more. Inside an incomplete building at the University of Ghana, artist Reginald Sylvester II presented On the Other Side of Languish, an emotionally powerful, austere show that included sculptures and artworks made in concert with metalworkers.

Also featured was the Yaa Asantewaa Art prize for female Ghanaian artists. It included the debut presentation of a recent recipient, whose work draws on familial archival records to produce a artistic representation of life in Ghana after independence. The event also announced a latest winner, whose multidisciplinary work is particularly concerned with the craft techniques of women in Dabala.

An Enduring Impact

While the global African community has more and more been drawn back to Ghana during the winter months, a growing cohort are thinking about visiting earlier in the year to engage with the region’s cultural season. Between Accra Cultural Week and similar gatherings, what you’ll find are art scenes that are not merely new or “upcoming” but have forged an whole universe that is enduring.

Finally, the experience offers a vision of Accra that feels like a statement for environmental protection and the keeping alive of tradition. It is a compelling testament to adaptability in all its expressions.