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After in excess of 50 issues exploring the international Black diaspora, this represents a concluding column. The journey proved incredibly gratifying, and immense thanks offered to all the engaged audience.

Exploring the Accra Festival

Visiting the exhibitions, installations and shows of the festival, it becomes clear how superior art feeds and shapes a nation's history and identity. The highlight was certainly the artist's exquisite [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, which displayed his innovative afrogallonism for all to see: a approach that reimagines plastic containers into illusory art pieces, tapestries of yellow, brass and gold. The exhibition was designed as a testament to the endurance of the historic district, a historical area of Accra.

The community – largely populated by the Ga people, a fishing community – is also where numerous freed slaves came back from South America and made their home in the 1830s. Referred to as the Tabom community, they carried with them Portuguese language and traditions.

All across Jamestown, you can see a mix of building designs. There’s a historic building, with its characteristic European-style masonry and curved entrances. One can also see the prominent lighthouse of Jamestown, erected in the 1871 and subsequently featuring its distinctive striped appearance.

A Culture of Celebration

Furthermore notable about Jamestown is the ubiquitous presence of funeral posters. Wherever you look, be it affixed to walls or on big hoardings, one finds funeral details and phrases of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are significant community celebrations.

In this spectacular exhibition, every aspect of the sights, sounds and religious textures of Jamestown are evoked – notably in the immersive Jamestown nshonaa work. In this space, one is relaxed by the sound of crashing waves with beach material on the floor, while beach huts, nets and images of canoes honour its dynamic, generational maritime community. Yet being present in this venue, it's hard to ignore the mountains of cast-off garments that mar the charm and peace of the shoreline.

Apart from the Centrepiece

The festival program included additional highlights. Inside an raw space at the University of Ghana, artist Reginald Sylvester II showcased a deeply moving minimalist collection, an incredibly moving, stripped-back exhibition that included sculptures and canvases created in concert with welders.

And then there is the competition for female artists for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It showcased the inaugural exhibition of a recent laureate, whose work draws on familial archival records to craft a artistic representation of life in the nation's recent history. The event also announced a new champion, whose varied work is deeply invested in the craft techniques of women in a specific region.

An Enduring Legacy

While the overseas community has increasingly been pulled home to west Africa during the winter months, more and more are considering visiting for the cultural season to engage with the region’s festival period. Between this festival and other major events, what is evident are creative communities that are not simply nascent or “upcoming” but have built up an complete universe that is here to stay.

Ultimately, the journey offers a vision of Accra that resembles a manifesto for environmental protection and the preservation of tradition. It is a compelling tribute to resilience in all its forms.