Art Worlds in Ghana » intersecting zones

Posts Tagged ‘intersecting zones’

And it’s over

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Just got back from Nima: Muhinmanchi Art. I could hardly be happier, I was smiling the whole day. It may have been a bit crazy and crowded (Nima kids are a handful), but the art was amazing, the murals were so so beautiful, and man, the place was packed.

I’m touched by the kindness and support we received — from David, the manager at Paloma Restaurant who drove over half the food packages when our car was too full; to Jane, a waitress who’d helped me with directions last week, and actually came to the event; to Alex Akuffo, our photographer who got married YESTerday but came anyway; to my Ghanaian family the Otoos (they all came to “dangerous” Nima, even the kids); to my professor Jesse Shipley, the only one to be at my Ghana arts events both here and at Haverford (Intersecting Zones in December); to Panji, a hip life music producer I thought might be too busy to come, but ended up staying the whole day and said he’d be behind making this program an annual event. That’s not even the half of it, I can’t begin to thank the artists, students, sponsors, community leaders, and friends who came together today. I’m so lucky to have had Larry and Musah as partners, and Kelvin as my boss. K I’ll stop, sorry for getting sentimental guys.

Now they’re talking about V.I.P. and their new single on the radio. I feel pretty proud to have had them at our event. It was Prodigal’s birthday Thursday btw, happy birthday Prodigal (one of the three members).

Will post pictures later. Mom and Dad, hope you’re ready for all the paintings I bought.

P.S. Our IndieGogo fundraising site shuts down today, but if anyone wants to donate directly…we went a lettle bit over budget. Contact me.

Tags: Accra, alex akuffo, art, community arts event, Ghana, haverford college, intersecting zones, jesse shipley, kelvin asare williams, larry, musah swallah, nima, nima: muhinmanchi art, otoo, paintings, paloma restaurant, panji, prodigal, v.i.p., yussif aminu larry
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While I’m at high speed wi-fi…

Friday, June 24th, 2011

: 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.

: 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.

: 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.

: 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).

: 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.

: This is where the Ghana end of the Haverford-Ghana Intersecting Zones exhibition took place, in December at the DuBois Centre…

: 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.)