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In the wake of more than 50 installments exploring the international Black diaspora, this signifies a final dispatch. The experience was incredibly gratifying, with great thanks offered to every one of the attentive readers.

A Look Inside the Cultural Week

Experiencing the exhibitions, installations and acts of Accra Cultural Week, it becomes clear how superior art sustains and constructs a nation's history and identity. The centrepiece was certainly Clottey's remarkable [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which put his pioneering afrogallonism on full display: a concept that transforms plastic containers into captivating works of art, tapestries of metallic tones. The show was designed as a tribute to the strength of this area, a venerable neighbourhood of Accra.

Jamestown – predominantly home to the Ga people, a seafaring people – is also where many freed slaves returned from South America and settled in the 1830s. Known as the Tabom people, they brought Portuguese tongue and traditions.

In every part of Jamestown, you can see a mix of architectural styles. You'll find a historic building, with its unique colonial-era masonry and door arches. One can also see the prominent Jamestown Lighthouse, built in the 19th century and eventually sporting its distinctive striped facade.

Customs of Mourning

Also notable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous presence of memorial notices. Wherever you look, be it covering alleyways or on sizable signboards, you’ll see service information and terms of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are major community celebrations.

In Clottey’s breathtaking show, every aspect of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are present – especially in the engaging Jamestown nshonaa installation. Here, one is relaxed by the sound of the sea with sand at your feet, while beach huts, nets and depictions of vessels pay homage to its spirited, long-standing maritime community. But experiencing this venue, it's hard to ignore the heaps of cast-off garments that mar the beauty and serenity of the region.

In Addition to the Centrepiece

There is additional highlights. Housed in an incomplete building at the local university, artist Reginald Sylvester II exhibited a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, stripped-back exhibition that displayed sculptures and canvases produced in concert with metalworkers.

Another key element is the competition for female artists for female Ghanaian artists. It featured the inaugural exhibition of a recent laureate, whose work draws on personal family archives to produce a artistic representation of life in Ghana after independence. The event also announced a latest champion, whose varied work is deeply concerned with the weaving practices of women in the Volta region.

A Lasting Presence

While the global African community has increasingly been drawn home to Ghana in the western winter, a growing cohort are contemplating travelling for the cultural season to immerse themselves in the area's festival period. From Accra Cultural Week and similar gatherings, what is evident are art scenes that are not merely emerging or “upcoming” but have built up an entire landscape that is here to stay.

In the end, the visit offers a image of Accra that resembles a statement for environmental protection and the preservation of culture. It is a resonant testament to resilience in all its expressions.