Bello Benischauer, a fellow participant at the Kumasi Symposium this summer put together a fantastic video documentation of all of the projects happening during the two weeks.
You can check it out, as well as our hand made exhibition catalog here:
http://www.artinprocess.com/Kiosks
Also, the Re-Painting the Red project and Slipper Curio Kiosk by Patrick Turkson are getting a little press at Open Door Contemporary Art Projects
Throughout Ghana, in big cities and small villages, corporations are usurping the exterior walls of homes, businesses, and community spaces for the purposes of advertising. This was something that was immediately apparent to me as I began traveling north, through Kumasi and up into Tamale and Bolgatanga.
As a park of the Kurio Kiosk Project during The Kumasi Symposium at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, collaborators and I planned an intervention that would subvert corporate advertising that gives very little back to the community. Statement and photos below:
“Re-Painting the Red”
Charlie Michaels
Rex Akinruntan
Kojo Apori
Ralista Diana Debrah
With permission from Faisal and his family who willingly let us re-paint their home in Kumasi. Photo documentation by Jack Azor
This project seeks to draw attention to a form of corporate advertising in Ghana.
The practice of branding signifies ownership of the branded object, in this case by corporations that choose to use the walls of family living spaces as cheap advertising. The streetscape of many Ghanaian cities and villages is quickly changing as the number of branded homes grows. Public spaces that once belonged to local communities and families are now being claimed and privatized by the bright, bold, and distracting logos of international corporations. These methods of advertising take advantage of the economic and social status of individuals in Ghanaian communities, as they are commonly given little or nothing in return. Often, only unfulfilled promises of money, mobile phones, and t-shirts are offered in exchange.
After conducting interviews and obtaining permission from the resident of a branded home in Kumasi, the artists painted over the advertisements covering the walls. The home was then stenciled with a series of Adinkra symbols, Ghanaian proverbial symbols that are often seen decorating buildings, fabrics, and vehicles. The arrangement of the Adinkra mimics the design of the corporate logo but subverts it, symbolizing the re-claiming of the home by local culture and the transferring of the space back into the hands of the community.
This project was included in an exhibition, Kumasi Crossroads: Global Kiosk Affairs, at the KNUST museum during August 2009.
Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling over the past week!
Right now im in Kumasi, staying at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). I was able to see a lot of the country this past week.. though i must have spent about three solid days on buses!
It took me about three days to get from Cape Coast up to Bolgatanga, which is on the northern border of Ghana not very far from Burkina Faso. Depending on what kind of bus you buy a ticket for, it may or may not leave on time. Many of the smaller buses and the local buses only leave when they are full. Meaning, if you buy a ticket and you are only the third one to board the bus you have to sit there for as long as it takes for the bus to fill with people. Sometimes this cam mean HOURS.
I left Cape Coast for Kumasi last week sometime, arriving in Kumasi 5 hours later where I spent only one night in a single room the size of a closet that had only a padlock on the door (no working handle). The city center of Kumasi only receives city water for a few hours out of every day, something I didn’t know when I arrived here. That night was frustrating to say the least. I had no idea why there was no water and felt really unsafe in the room I was in. Luckily, I only had to spend one night there and took off on a morning bus to Tamale in the morning. There are these amazing little breakfast places in Ghana that will sell you an omlette, bread, and coffee or tea for around two Cedis ($1.40). They look a lot like all of the other small shops and booths lining the street, which are typically small wooden stalls with screened windows that sell food or goods from inside. These small restaurants allow you to enter and sit on a small bench behind the woman who cooks your food. The kitchen is powered by a few wood and coal stoves one of which has boiling water for coffee and tea going and the other is for grilling bread and making eggs. I have only been to two of these places so far, but they are generally only big enough for 4 or 5 people. The food is greasy and good and I really love knowing I can always get the same thing for incredibly cheap. Similar stalls sell rice, meat, and cut vegetables during lunch and dinner and you can order and eat right there sitting on benches in the street. I really love eating street food, though im getting VERY sick of rice.
Anyway, back to what I was saying. I took a bus from Cape Coast to Kumasi and then from Kumasi to Tamale. That leg of the trip took around 8 hours because the bus stopped about 4 times. Once they let us off to go to the bathroom and get some food and the other times had something to do with a problem the bus was having. Long story short, we never actually made it to the bus station in Tamale as the bus broke down in the middle of the street right outside the city center. From there i took a scary taxi ride with some people from Slovenia to my hostel where I fell asleep to pouring rain.
The next morning I had planned to continue my journey to Bolga but ended up spending an extra day in Tamale because I had no intention on taking a bus in rain like that. The roads here are not always paved and a bumpy bus ride can easily turn into a muddy and stuck bus ride after it has rained. The rain stopped around 1 or 2 and I still had some time to explore the market in Tamale. Its much different from the one in Accra – smaller, less crowded, and has a number of stalls selling things that I have not yet seen in a market here. A series of stalls in particular were selling things that I found out are used in traditional medicine. I ended up talking to one of the guys selling here for a while asking him to identify what was in all of the bags in his stall. He sold things like tortoise shells, tiger skins, dried plants, snake skulls, etc. Not much else to see in Tamale, but its interesting to just walk around and take in the scenery.. the most notable difference from anything ive seen in Ghana so far is that its dotted with mosques and people praying in the street during the day.
I traveled to Bolgatanga (Bolga) from there and stayed about 2 days before heading back to Kumasi to stay at the university. In Bolga I met up with Aba’s friend Abu Kari who runs a non profit organization in his home village of Serigu. Aba (who runs the paper making workshops with children in Nungua) had told me that I should meet up with him if i go up north and gave me his contact information before I left her house a week and a half ago. I called Abu when I got off the bus in Bolga and he came to pick me up on his motorcycle, which looks like its been through a lot but runs great and has plenty of room for a white guy with a huge backpack to sit on the back! We went to my hotel to drop my bag and then were off on a 45 minute journey down a red dirt road to see his weaving workshop and small farm where he grown millet and soy beans.
At Abu’s weaving workshop, a group of women who live in the small surrounding village weave baskets from straw that is grown in Kumasi which they purchase at the local market. Most have been doing it for years and years, and are masters at weaving complicated designs from the natural and died straw. The were happy to have me and welcomed me over and over again, each standing up to shake my hand multiple times. Abu had told me how to respond to them when the welcomed me into the workshop which was to say “Naa-baa” when they said “Zaire” (or something like that..) They thought is was hilarious every time i opened my mouth to attempt to say something (which i think endeared me to them even more) They ended up letting me try my hand at weaving and i ended up making a donation and buying one of their finished baskets. The organization is really a family affair for Abu who organizes the women who weave, as well as the men who put leather handles on and sell them in the market.
I finally got around to uploading another set of pictures. Im sorry I cant include more, but here you go!
Included are photos of:
the backyard at Aba House, two photographs of the Ga festival I wrote about in the last post including one of the cheif priest sitting in front of the bloody altar where a cow had been slaughtered earlier and one of the priestesses dancing. Also, Eric the fantasy coffin makers shop and a photograph of the Pirogue coffin he made at the funeral I attended, the kids at Aba house making paper, some shots of the interior of Cape Coast castle including freshly unveiled Obama plaque!, the women in Serigu weaving baskets, a shot of the painted houses in Sirigu (another village close to Bolga), and some of where i currently am in Kumasi – the central market, which is the largest in West Africa and my Dutch friends Elise and Dan who I have now hung out with in both Cape Coast and Kumasi.
That’s it for now!
Hello!
Im writing to you from Cape Coast, a small city on on the Atlantic west of Accra. A lot has happened since my last post
The Chief of the village of Nungua invited myself and the other Obruni’s (white people) staying at Aba’s house to a local festival about a week ago. We are unsure exactly of the purpose of the festival as it seems each of us got slightly different explanations. Reasons for festivals like this always seem complicated (especailly to someone new to the culture) as everything is symbolic and honors some sort of god or spirit or ancestor. This particular festival had something to do with honoring ancestors. We arrived at the Chiefs house at around 1oclock and greeted him and others that were standing outside. We were taken to a special place reserved for us to sit where we waited about a half an hour only to be taken to another special place to sit. Im learning that in Africa, everything takes longer than I expect it to. There is always a lot of waiting to do at any big event. The Cheif provided us with a guide that sat with us at the festival in chairs along the street that had been reserved for us. After sitting down we waited about 2 – 3 hours before anything happened. After waiting, we were taken up to the front to greet the Cheif, queen mother, priests and preistesses who sat around a bloody platform where a cow had ceremoniously been slaughtered earlier in the day. Soon after, lots of drumming started, the cheif poured libations (ceremonial pouring of gin or schnapps on the ground) and men and women dressed in lots of silver jewelry began dancing in the street back and forth in front of us.
As the dancing and drumming went on, dancers and others in the festival slowly became posessed with spirits of ancestors. When someone becomes possessed, they start to lose their balance and control of their own bodies. When a spirit enters someone others catch them so they dont fall, take off their jewelry so they dont hurth themselves, and strip them down so they are only wearing a cloth around their waist. Then men and women who became possessed move their bodies in very specific rhythmic ways that i guess is dependant on the spirit that enters them.. they then sometimes woule leave and come back dressed as the spirit or carrying things that significant to the spirit that is possessig them like a gun or pecific clothing. Since we had front row seats, many people were becomming possessed right in front of me including a women that had been sitting in a stool directly at my feet.
I experienced a similar ceremony later in the week when Silvia, who is a curator from Toronto that is in Ghana collecting coffins, took me to the funeral of a local fisherman. Coffins of the Ga people are often carved to look like an object that had meaning to the life of the deceased person. Its a fairly new tradition, but incredibly interesting. They are made of wood and each is orded from the family and construced by hand by coffin makers that have been trained in the craft. Check an example out here – http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/photo.day.php?ID=52081
I accompained Silvia to visit a coffin maker named Eric in Teshie (village next to Nungua) to see his workshop. The next day, Eric took us to a traditional funeral so we could witness the ceremony. The coffin for this ceremony was in the shape of a Pirogue (a West African fishing boat) becasue the man who died was a retired fisherman in Teshie. A fimilar scene took place – greeting of the elders (we brought 2 bottles of schnapps as an offering) and lots of waiting around. When things finally got rolling they put the body in the coffin, poured libation, and slaughtered a goat letting the blood drip all over the coffin. Then, three of the men (sons presumably) put the coffin on their heads and paraded throught the streets of Teshie for about 45 minutes, hundreds of people trailing behind. They ended up at the cemetery near the beach where it was dropped into a pre dug hole and covered with sand. I was able to get some pictures of the Ceremony but I was busy filming the whole thing for SIlvia – footage which will likely be used at the ROM in Toronto when the coffins go on display. The hardest part undoubetedly was witnessing the slaughtering of the goat which they held in the air (someone with its front legs and someone one with the back) above tthe coffin when they cut its throat. Silvia said I looked a little sick. I was glad that they had spared us the slaughtering of the cow at the previous festival. Though it was hard to watch, it was really meaningful and I know that no part of the aminal will get wasted.
Moving on! I spent the rest of the week making paper and handing out with the kids at Aba House. Michael, who is one of the star students there took me to get Kenkey and steamed plantains for lunch on sunday. I really like the local food here, but im craving cheese like crazy! very few dairy products here. Im going to go back to Nungua for a few days at the end of the trip to spend more time with the kids there.
On Monday I left for Cape Coast with Silvia, Caroline (another Aba House resident) and Kobbi who is a drum and puppet maker from Togo who now lives in Accra. Its fun traveling with Kobbi because he can usually get the best taxi fare and knows how to get around. Cape Coast and Elmina (neighboring towns) are the sites of two of the remaining slave castles built by the British and Portuguese, respectively, during the slave trade. The castles held captured Africans for periods of months at a time before they were loaded on boats to cross the atlantic. We toured Elmina on monday and Cape Coast on tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon Silvia, Caroline, and Kobbi left to head back to Nungua and Accra and I stayed in Cape Coast which is where I am now. This morning I went to the Kakum National Forest (30km or so from Cape Coast) to go on a hike with some new Dutch friends that I met at the hotel. Kakum has a series of rope bridges that they call the “canopy walk” that stretch between some tall trees above the canopy of the forest. It was incredibly beautiful (as well as humid). We then went on a short hike to see some native trees, plants, etc. before heading back to cape coast.
Tomorrow morning im getting on a bus to Kumasi to begin making my way north. Ill travel to Kumasi, then Tamale, then Bolgatanga over the next three days. My goal is to get to Bolgatanga (or Bolga), stay for a day or two and them make my way back down south ending up in Kumasi on July 30th for the conference im attending that begins the 31st. This may happen, but it may not.. its going to depend on how sick of busses I am. Im not sure how far ill make it. Though I was really sad to leave Aba house this week and the community I met there, im looking forward to doing some more travelling. Wish me luck! hopefully more pictures to come within the next week.
Im currently staying in Nungua, a small fishing village east of Accra, in the home of an American woman who has started an organization that offers art classes and workshops to children in the village. You can check the program out at www.culturalcollaborative.org. Aba, the woman who own the house and runs the program is from Massachusetts. She spends parts of the year in Ghana working with children in Nungua making handmade paper, books, and other crafts which are sold in the united states. The money made comes back to the village to buy school supplies for the children. I’ve been helping out with this the past couple of days. We spent yesterday and today making a big flag which will fly outside the house and started boiling sugar cane to make paper. Aba grows sugar cane on the property and uses the plants to make paper and bind books. Im learning how to do this from the kids in the village who have been doing it for a number of years. My housemates here are Aba (the owner of the house), Caroline (a nurse from Massachusetts who came to donate medical supplies and teach the children about medical care), Silvia (The curator of African Art at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto) and Talk True (a Ghanaian guy who lives in and manages the house year round)
I have been here since Friday morning. So far, I have seen a lot in the village including fishermen, a couple of the local hotels (we went off on Friday night looking for somewhere with a television to watch the Obama coverage) and have been eating a lot of delicious food!
Talk True is a great cook! Local food (as I have experienced it so far) usually consists of some kind of starch (Fufu, Banku, and Kenkey are local staples) along with some kind of stew of vegetables, sometimes meat or fish, with palm oil. Fufu Banku and Kenkey are doughy foods made of ground maize or cassava which you pick up with your hands and dip into other foods. Today for lunch one of the local kids took me to buy Kenkey and Pepe (I am probably spelling this wrong, but pepe is a spicy hot sauce made from tomatoes and I think fish oil?) We also had smoked plantains with ground nut (peanuts). Im really enjoying the food, and so far so good I havent gotten sick. Talk True cooks dinner every night here, so I have been introduced to a lot of delicious local things! My new favorite Ghanaian dish is called “Red Red” im not sure exactly what is in it but its delicious and is served with fried plantains.
Today Aba took all of us who are staying in the house to see the Chief of the village. It is proper custom to visit the chief upon arrival in a village (though, in contemporary times not as much) We visited him in his home (a 20 minute walk or so from Aba House) where he showed us pictures of his family and talked to us about his thoughts on Obama’s visit. The Cheif is very well traveled, has a Doctorate from the University of Toronto and had a personal story to tell for just about everything that came up in conversation. He is going to be in Kumasi at the same time as me, so we exchanged numbers. (BTW – I have a Ghanaian cell phone now, so if you are interested in having the number email me and i’ll send it to you)
Unfortunately, I wasnt able to see Obama. I had really high hopes last week in Accra of being able to watch him speak at least. They ended up moving the speech indoors instead of having it in Black Star Square where politicians usually speak due to security concerns and the thought that it might rain (rain is unpredictable during this time of the year) Had I thought ahead, I could have contacted the American Embassy ahead of time to ask to come to the reception there, but it wouldnt have worked last minute. On saturday night we did get to see air force one fly over Nungua though! Obama was well received in Ghana. He is very popular here. I could elaborate, but dont have the time. This blog thing is harder than I thought here as internet is not everywhere and the connections are often very slow. Hopefully more pictures eventually.
This week to come:
more paper making, getting a visit from a contemporary Kente Weaver, visiting a traditional healer or fetish priest, visiting a local sign painter, going to the home of one of the students to visit his mother who will make us Kenkey. This weekend I am going to Cape Coast to see the slave castle and then who knows! The next couple of weeks after this are open for me to travel and I am still planning what im going to do.
Here are some photos of Accra, me taking my first drum lesson, Obama Billboards, etc.
I have moved on from Accra to Nungua (a suburb of Accra) and am staying at Cross Cultural Collaborative, or “Aba House” as it is known here. The house with the Alligators is where i am now. The last photographs are from a fishing harbor in Nungua. Sorry I dont have a lot of time to write.. uploading pictures took forever and my time at the cafe is running out!
I am safe and well, I hope you are the same!
Akwaaba! (welcome)
This post will have to be short, i only have 12 mins on internet left. i got here yesterday morning and successfully found my hostel from the airport (with the help of, Owusu, an awesome Ghanaian guy that I met at JFK in NY) The first day was frustrating to say the least. after taking a nap i made myself a list of things i wanted to accomplish before dark. it included: Exlpore neighborhood,exchange travelers checks, get food, buy newspaper, and locate myself on a map. (most importantly, exchange checks and buy food)
The man and woman at the reception desk had no idea where to exchange checks so i had to go to the ministry of information (across the street from my hostel) the woman at the desk there said “i dont know, ask around.” so i did. a guy standing outside told me that there was a bank about 200 meters away (surprisingly, he way right – these were the most direct and accurate directions i have yet to recieve in Ghana) at that bank i got a no and was directed to another bank which directed me back to the first. so i visited another.. after trying about 6 banks (none knew what to do with travelers checks, but all invited me in to sit down and talk) i got the bright idea to call chase and activate my debit card travel staus, which i forgot to do when i left. brilliant, right? well.. after doing that I found out that ALL of the ATM’s in Accra were down! some kind of a network thing. So, hungry and tired i went back with no money (i used all the Ghanaian Cedi’s i got at the airport to pay for my room)
I learned two lessons from this. The first is: always carry cash! The second is: always listen to your mother! Why? Before I left my mom insisted that I get two bags of trail mix to take with me. I didnt really want to get any, thinking that i would be able to get food at the airport easily and not wanting to carry the extra weight. Well, I ate one bag on the planes and thankfully the second bag was there to serve as my dinner on my first night in Accra! thanks mom!
On my quest for banks and ATM’s i found Makola Market, the largest market in Accra. Its amazing! total eye and ear overload. colors, music, people everywhere, and barely any rules for walking or driving. during my short time in the market i saw one almost car accident (taxi that skidded up onto the sidewalk) and a car hit a guy in the street! i didnt ever realize this until all of the Africans in my view turned, gasped, and started flooding the street to help this man. I have never seen such community concern for a single individual.
That night = trail mix for dinner, an amazing thunderstorm, and barely any sleep.
Fastforward to today:
I laughed when i found it (and you probably will also) but after thinking i had no money and going back to my room hungry, i found a ten cedi bill in the cargo pocket of my pants!
After getting up and dressed, and having a nice conversation with Becky, the housekeeper at the hostel who told me to “get an unbrella! didnt you know this is the rainy season!?” I took a taxi to a bank that i had been advised would cash my checks. and they did!
I bought an umbrella, a sheet to use when i sleep, a bag of water, LUNCH! and went to find the beach. Trying to find a good spot to take pictures of the coast I met a guy named Mustapha who is a wood carver and drum maker. He took me to his shop and showed me what he does. He makes a lot crafts for tourists: small wooded elephants, giraphes, etc. I bought a small elephant from him. His real passion, though, is drumming and making drums. I told him that I had wanted to take drum lessons at some point while I was in Ghana, and he said “come on! lets go” he grabbed two Djembe drums and we went and sat on a ledge over the ocean to play drums along with a crowd of about 5 more guys (age range 2-50) that tagged along. For a couple of hours they taught me how play some basic rythms and i listened to them play. Mustapha is going to make me a drum that I will pick up in the last few days of my trip. I love it here! Ghanaians are some of the most hosiptable, gracious, considerate, and proud people I have every met. Everyone I have interacted with has been more than excited to talk with me, learn about why I am in Ghana, and tell me about their country.
Stay tuned for more updates, no pictures yet. I dont have my camera with me and cant upload.
I’m leaving for Ghana tomorrow morning for 6 weeks! I’m not yet sure how much access to the internet i’ll have once i’m there, but when possible I am going to use this site to post pictures and let people know what I am up to.
Here’s my plan so far:
July7: Arrive in Accra
July 10 – ?: Staying at Cross Cultural Collaborative in Nungua, a beach town outside of Accra www.culturalcollaborative.org
July 31 – Aug 14: Attending a conference in Kumasi titled “The Kumasi Symposium: Tapping Local Respouses for Sustainable Education Through Art” at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Aug 18th: Flying home
