Nubuke Collection Exhibition
Professor Ablade Glover
Seth Nii Clottey
Kofi Setordji
Galle Winston Kofi Dawson
Marigold Akuffo-Addo
Victor Butler
Wiz Kudowor
Robert Aryeetey
Yaw Brobbey Kyei
Serge Clottey
Adzo Kisser
Gideon Appah
Fatric Bewong
The exhibition also featured works by young, talented, up-and-coming artists such as Yaw Brobbey Kyei, who works mostly within the contemporary collectives of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s College of Arts. Internationally acclaimed Serge Clottey, mostly known for his Afrogallonism movement and breathing performances, was also featured.
Adzo Kisser, currently enrolled in an MFA program at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, is a versatile artist whose work was on display. Others included Gideon Appah, a recipient of a merit award during the Barclays L’Atelier competition in 2015 and an alumnus of KNUST, and Fatric Bewong, an art teacher, performer, and painter, also an alumna of KNUST.
Since its inception, the Nubuke Foundation has collected a significant number of artworks from Ghanaian artists they have worked with over the years, some of which date back 25 years. The foundation has been and continues to be a hub for artists in Ghana and an authentic address for art lovers. Located in the green leafy suburb of East Legon in Accra, Nubuke Foundation has made indelible marks on the visual arts scene in Ghana and the world through its programmes. In line with its vision and mission of recording, preserving, and promoting visual arts in Ghana, the foundation hosts and organizes periodic exhibitions and other art-related programmes, such as poetry, art talks, and more. These programmes are geared towards providing opportunities for young, talented artists to excel in their careers.
Held at its own premises, the exhibition projects Ghanaian art forms and artists, bringing together functional, expressionist, conceptual, representational, and historical pieces the foundation has collected over time. The works and items on display spanned different artistic eras and techniques. Issues addressed by the artists ranged from social critique and abstraction to symbolic representation, painting, and craftsmanship, all inspired by diverse backgrounds and historical motivations.
On display were earthenware potteries from Kpando in the Volta Region of Ghana, lifecycle bead installations by Kati Torda—a renowned bead maker in Ghana, whose installation depicted the indispensable role beads play in Ghanaian culture—and cityscape works by Fatric Bewong. Serge Clottey’s Twist and Turns, a part of the My Mother’s Wardrobe series exhibited at Gallery 1957, was also featured.
Other items included Asafo flags, known locally as Frankaa (singular) and Afrankaa (plural), dating back to the pre-colonial era in the Akan cluster. These colourful flags, prominent among the coastal Fantis, featured vivid imagery and designs on solid cotton backgrounds. They were commissioned by different military organizations known as Asafo, or “companies.” Gold weights, another highlight, represented a skill the Akans adapted from their Sudanese trading partners in the early fifth century. These weights, cast in bronze and later depicting fascinating Akan cultural motifs, were used to measure gold during trading activities with Sudanese merchants.
One interesting artwork on exhibition was a fraction of Kofi Setordji’s Genocide Serenade, a clay installation addressing the mass killings in Rwanda. This thought-provoking piece served as Kofi’s way of creating a monument for the genocide that claimed over 800,000 lives. According to the artist, the clay used in casting the faces symbolizes the fragility of life and our vulnerability to one another, where a brother can become an enemy in an instant. This piece has traveled the world.
Paintings on display included Ablade Glover’s Woman Portrait, Marigold Akuffo-Addo’s Seasons 1A-2A, Wiz Kudowor’s Urban Memoir, Seth Clottey’s Men at Work, British Accra, and Women Council, among others.
The Nubuke Foundation Collection Exhibition ran until the 31st of October 2016. It provided art patrons with (re)orientations on masterpieces of the last decade and insights into how the arts landscape and contemporary history have shaped Ghana.
Time spent at this exhibition was a moment of being mesmerized by interesting and thought-provoking artworks, as well as an opportunity to be enlightened and to interact with Ghanaian culture.