Ghameli

  In early April, artist Ibrahim Mahama drove for more than an hour from Tamale, in the north of Ghana, to the town of Kumbungu to present a lecture to pupils of the Zugu Dabogni AME Zion Primary School in the Northern Region. In tow – alongside some of Mahama’s colleagues and myself – was the classically trained singer Kokui Selormey, who was due to lead an interactive music workshop for the pupils. It was the first time Mahama had delivered his lecture, titled ‘The Quagrey Effect and the Precarious Gift’, in Dagbani, a language spoken by people in the country’s Northern Region. The talk covered topics including his beginnings, inspirations, challenges, how he sourced materials for his artworks and collaborative working practices. The school’s headmaster thanked Mahama for bringing the world closer to them. ‘They are part of the world, but we have to learn to bridge the gap,’ the artist responded. That statement speaks to a key element of Mahama’s ethos: making art accessible to every

 Art is like music,” says Emmanuel Taku. “When you listen to sad music, you might become sad. Listen to joyful music, you might become happy.”  The Ghanaian painter is reflecting on being a purveyor of joy through his work. His portraits’ bonhomie is contagious, as if one is keeping company with Taku’s high-spirited subjects. They are dressed, inevitably, in flamboyant garb—a Taku signature. And they’re enjoying themselves as they go about their daily lives; more precisely, Taku’s people embody the spirit of enjoyment, of embracing life with a smile, whatever their travails. It’s a kind of superpower. Indeed, Taku’s Instagram bio describes him as a “creator of deities.” Over a decade, he’s assembled a pantheon of such divinities, demigods of fun. Taku’s work is distinctive, but in its life-embracing quality, it’s also of a piece with the generation of painters who have emerged from Ghana in the past few years. Other buzzed-about names of this ‘Ghana School’ include Amoako Boafo, Joshua

When   El Anatsui's   biggest-ever indoor   art   piece was unveiled in October at   London’s   Tate Modern , it was emblematic of how he continues to inspire   African artists . As the renowned Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama wrote on   Instagram , the 79-year-old fellow Ghanaian   sculptor   and 2023   Time   100 honouree “paved the way for a generation of artists like myself and many others”. Titled  Behind the Red Moon  (until April 14, 2024), the site-specific installation is a Hyundai Turbine Hall commission curated by Osei Bonsu and Dina Akhmadeeva, Tate Modern’s  curator  of international art and assistant curator of international art, respectively. The founder of the  Accra  and London-based Gallery 1957, Marwan Zakhem, told STIR that he was “incredibly moved” to see the Tate opening, adding that he “couldn’t be prouder” of its significance and how it adds to “all real moments of contemporary  African art  on the international stage”. Installation view of  Seated Forward Fo

In 2021, Harmonie Bataka left her job in the banking industry to follow her love of skateboarding. Before the decision, she had an active interest in the field but was not practicing full time due to the demands that came with work, and other responsibilities. Years later, she is now a skateboarder, teaching other women and girls as a skateboarding tutor with the  Skate Gal Club , amongst other endeavours including modelling.    Bataka’s journey is one of several young people in the growing surfing and skateboarding space in Ghana due to the efforts of the  Surf Ghana  collective, which, per its     website , “uses the practice of extreme sports as a driver for diversity in education, social inclusion, and empowerment of the youth while curating events and sporting experiences provided by specialized instructors.”   The non-profit organization was founded in 2016 by Sandy Alibo, who was inspired by her passion for skating and her experience supporting extreme sports management in Europ

. The opportunity to communicate one's thoughts and ideas is often appreciated by people in the creative arts, even if they usually prefer their work to do all the talking. In the forthcoming book   VOICES: Ghana’s Artists In Their Own Words , visual artists from the West African country chronicle their art journey and practice – as the title suggests – in their own words. Writer and curator  Ekow Eshun ’s foreword sets the stage for what is billed as a first-of-its-kind, a book that sees the artists, and in addition, curators and gallerists, talk about their work and Ghana’s art scene in first person. It features interviews with over 80 people, including  Eshun ,  James Barnor ,  Chrissa Amuah ,   F oster Sakyiamah ,  Rita Mawuena Benissan ,  Osei Bonsu ,  Larry Ossei-Mensah , and  Campbell Addy . The book is a collaborative project between Accra-based pan-African digital platform and creative studio,  Manju Journal , and London-based independent publishers Twentyfour ThirtySix. I

  It's a significant moment in time for Foster Sakyiamah's career. Presented by  ADA\ Contemporary Art Gallery  and curated by Ghanaian contemporary artist Joseph Awuah-Darko, ‘ Lines Through Time’  features new paintings from the artist that have been inspired by works from notable artists, including  Johannes Vermeer  and  Paul Gauguin . But it's also the first time the artist is showing a solo exhibition in the city he has called home for nearly 36 years. One of the major works in the collection is “Akosua As Desire,” which is influenced by Gauguin’s 1892 painting “ The Seed of the Areoi .” It shows a Ghanaian lady whose Black body is painted in red skin seated in the nude and holding what looks like a mango while sitting on a table covered with cloth to convey independence, a sense of nurturing, and femininity. A second painting that also received the Sakyiamah spin is Vermeer’s 1665 painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” He tells  OkayAfrica  that the paintings were cre