Whew, things are busy over here
So many rounds to do promoting the event, going to various TV and radio stations, dropping off posters at embassies and establishments, picking up art supplies, etc. People have been amazingly supportive, and it looks like we’ll be getting plenty of news coverage. ‘Sgonna be big!
K, here are some photos from today’s meeting at the 441 school to figure out the mural. We met with everrryone working on the mural, not just the four leading workshops (Larry, Musah, Attukwei, Sharif) or the two guiding us (Mozzay and Shamoun, the established Nima artist teachers who are serving as our mentors/directors). The artists are designing the mural, and they’ll guide the students in painting it.
There's Shamoun and Mozzay in white at the back left. Musah's next to them in the hat, with Kamal, another artist pal I've been hearing about from Musah and finally got to meet. Mozzay and Shamoun taught all the young guys who are now working on the project. You can feel the respect when they walk into the room.
We decided on the themes/objects of inspiration for the mural – if only I could spell them. They embody aspects of Nima life that are truly “Nima.” And all positive! Trying to break the perception that Nima is a crime-ridden ghetto. (And it’s not just an outside perception. For the kids doing workshops, in a lot of their sample sketches they showed people smoking, drinking, littering, defecating… We asked them to think more about what they love and value in their community, and they came back with some really wonderful ideas.)
So, on the outside we’ll have:
1) ampe, a clapping/dancing/stomping children’s game that finds its home on the Nima streets (kids were also playing at Chale Wote in Jamestown this weekend)
2) tousafe (spelling??), a kind of corn and cassava dish, I think (nope, it’s not banku)
3) makerate (?), not sure exactly what that is but it has to do with school…
And on the inside:
1) kisu, a typical Nima hairstyle
2) yayi, a local uniform/dress style (different from V.I.P.’s song “Yaayi,” which I used in this video about our event. Yah that took a bit of repeating the words yayi/yaayi on Larry’s part for me to understand)
3) 441 Welfare Association School, something related to the specific activities at the host school, such as carpentry or design
We were checking out the walls to see how the mural will fit and what kind of prep we'll need to do. After much deliberation today, we'd decided to paint directly on the wall outside as opposed to on wooden board, then also have a board on the inside.
Musah and Larry went out late Sunday night to plaster posters all over Nima. Doesn't it look good? I've been walking around with a bag of posters for the past week. People everywhere ask me for a copy.
Tags: 441, 441 welfare association school, Accra, ampe, art, Ghana, kamal, kisu, larry amin, mozzay, mural, musah swallah, nima, nima: muhinmanchi art, serge attukwei clottey, shamoun, sharif, v.i.p., yaayi, yayi