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In the wake of more than 50 issues navigating the worldwide Black diaspora, this signifies a concluding dispatch. The tenure proved profoundly fulfilling, with great gratitude directed to all the attentive audience.

Exploring the Cultural Week

Attending the exhibitions, installations and performances of Accra Cultural Week, one sees how the finest art nourishes and shapes a nation's past and essence. The highlight was certainly Serge Attukwei Clottey’s stunning a profound exploration of ritual and time, which put his innovative afrogallonism in full view: a philosophy that transforms plastic containers into mesmerizing creations, tapestries of golden hues. The exhibition was created as a testament to the strength of Jamestown, a venerable quarter of Accra.

The community – largely populated by the Ga ethnic group, a fishing community – is furthermore where many returning Africans came back from Brazil and settled in the 19th century. Called the Tabom people, they brought Brazilian language and customs.

All across Jamestown, you can see a blend of architectural styles. You'll find a historic building, featuring its unique colonial-era masonry and arched doorways. One can also see the iconic Jamestown Lighthouse, built in the 1871 and eventually sporting its distinctive striped facade.

Traditions of Remembrance

Also striking about Jamestown is the pervasive sight of obituary announcements. Everywhere you turn, whether affixed to alleyways or on sizable billboards, you’ll see funeral details and terms of loss. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are significant community celebrations.

In this spectacular exhibition, the entirety of the sensory and spiritual landscape of Jamestown are present – especially in the engaging shoreline piece. Within it, visitors are calmed by the sound of ocean surf with beach material at your feet, while shacks, hanging fishing nets and representations of vessels celebrate its spirited, generational fishing community. Yet being present in this gallery, the mind turns to the mountains of cast-off garments that threaten the beauty and serenity of the region.

In Addition to the Headline Act

There is a great deal more. Inside an raw space at the campus, artist Sylvester presented a deeply moving minimalist collection, an profoundly affecting, austere exhibition that displayed three-dimensional works and canvases created in concert with metalworkers.

And then there is the prestigious art award for women artists of Ghanaian origin. It featured the inaugural exhibition of a recent laureate, whose work utilizes familial archival records to craft a visual impression of life in the nation's recent history. The event also crowned a latest winner, whose multidisciplinary work is deeply concerned with the craft techniques of women in Dabala.

An Enduring Presence

While the overseas community has grown been pulled back to the region during the colder season, a growing cohort are considering travelling earlier in the year to immerse themselves in the area's festival period. Between this festival and other major events, what is evident are cultural ecosystems that are not merely new or “upcoming” but have established an whole world that is permanent.

Finally, the journey offers a vision of Accra that feels like a manifesto for conservation and the safeguarding of heritage. It is a compelling testament to perseverance in all its manifestations.