Support NIMA: MUHINMANCHI ART
July 6th, 2011 by Robin Riskin '12Be a part of this great project. Support art and youth in Nima (and, ahem, my internship 
).
Now taking contributions on IndieGogo.
Video coming once I get to high speed internet…
Larry’s on Facebook
July 1st, 2011 by Robin Riskin '12Ch-ch-check it out, “like” my Ghanaian dad. More photos coming when I have better internet…just this took about three hours
While I’m at high speed wi-fi…
June 24th, 2011 by Robin Riskin '12-
- Constance Swaniker’s opening at the Artists Alliance June 22. Here’s her piece “In Celebration.” The artist herself is hidden behind the woman in the green dress.
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- A Night With Larry Otoo at the Nubuke Foundation June 17, sponsored by the Spanish Embassy as part of his residency in Segovia this “spring” (he said it was freezing cold the whole time). The audience loved him, and the Q&A was lively. When Larry said installation art isn’t for him, artist and critic Bernard Akoi-Jackson questioned his thinking and suggested that Larry himself is an installation artist, for the way he disregards horizontal planes.
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- Environmental Film Festival in Accra – screening and discussion at the Golden Tulip June 16, on Accra’s plastic waste. Ended with a heated debate on whether or how environmental activism can be effectively spread to the masses. I’m with the guy from Trashy Bags, Stuard Gold, who is working to make an impact with simple but direct local action, such as selling 5-cedi trashy bags for just 1-cedi to the sellers at Makola Market, who hand out hundreds of “rubbers” (black plastic bags) a day.
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- Before the whole environmental argument there was cause for celebration: an all-plastic wedding in honor of Trashy Bags, with gown and suit made of Fan Ice sachets (a delicious 50-pesewa ice cream treat that comes in a little plastic sachet).
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- Stumbled upon Virginia Ryan’s book “Almighty God” at the DuBois Centre library – an artist/writer/I-don’t-know-what whom I admire, who works in Ghana and all over the world. She’s a friend of my mom’s friend Steve Feld and helped to start the Foundation for Contemporary Art in Accra. On the right there is a book by Ayi Kwei Armah, a Ghanaian author HC prof Ruti Talmor recommended to me, but who is impossible to find in the U.S.
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- This is where the Ghana end of the Haverford-Ghana Intersecting Zones exhibition took place, in December at the DuBois Centre…
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- Men playing cards on the street in Osu. Looked pretty against the green wall. One of the guys joked that I should pay them for the photo. (I didn’t.)
We’ve got community support in Nima
June 24th, 2011 by Robin Riskin '12Mr. Akilu, the community head, has given us his a-okay. Mr. Ibrahim, who oversees the 441 Community Welfare Association, thinks the project is great. The local artists are all in and ready to go. Now we’re just waiting to hear back from sponsors. If we don’t get enough, I may come pleading for donations here and on Indie GoGo… (thanks for the suggestion, Laurel)
Larry (in the hat) and Musa walked me through the streets of Nima for another day of introductions and meetings yesterday.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad!
June 19th, 2011 by Robin Riskin '12I’m lucky to have a great Ghanaian dad here, but I’m thinking of you. Went to church again this year. This time it was a big Baptist church in the city, and I didn’t have to shake hands with all the fathers. I did get to meet a bunch of Larry’s friends, though.
Love you!