15-17 December 2020
Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana
Today,
more than half the world's inhabitants live in urban environments - a figure expected to grow to 68% by 2050 (UN, 2018).
Though patterns of change and challenge underlie expanding cities on our planet, exactly what these urban worlds will - and should - look like, is up for debate.
Grounded in the growing city of Accra, Ghana, Urban Futures invited engagement with the shaping of our future world.
It did this by centering art as a critical tool of expressing things that cannot easily be captured through language - expanding our ability to imagine what's possible.
The programme invited artistic responses to this theme, curating them into a multi-media exhibit, alongside panel talks and arts-based workshops with local schools.
Artists.
Panels.
The Visibility of Young Black Women in the Arts
The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
Production.
The Unknown
Sponsor.
London School of Economics and Political Science
David Alabo.
David is a multidisciplinary Ghanaian-Moroccan artist 'telling stories of the strange and surreal', and is committed to gaining an understanding of how best to showcase and critique African society through the lens of the strange and fantastical.
Alabo's Afrofuturism is, "the fusion of afrocentric elements with surrealism to create paradoxical
fantastical worlds that highlight African culture and its diaspora in both a familiar and strange
way. "His computer-generated oeuvres, "may not make sense at first but over time they
send a message. Sometimes, the message is open to interpretation. They have a lot to do
with fantasy and immediately strike the eye."
RAINBOW OCEAN by David Alabo.
still image from video projection VERTICES by Hakeem Adam.
Ghanaian digital artist-in-learning, and freelance arts and culture writer, Hakeem explores the power of narrative, transmitted through various creative outlets including video art and sound design.
For the exhibition, Hakeem will provide installations deploying sound as the
predominant narrative device that confront ideas about identity, emotion,
politics and freedom.
He is the founder and creative director of DANDANO—a Pan-African cultural
platform for African film and music criticism and documentation—and has
contributed to the archive of African culture for Africa Is a Country, OkayAfrica
and more.
Hakeem Adam.
Nana Nyahan Tachie-Menson.
Visual Artist and Creative Director, Nyahan, is a recent graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York City where she earned a BFA in Communication Design.
With a focus on no specific media at all, her work depicts real life issues through
the sense of fantasy, dreams, nightmares and visions. Using myriad contrasting
colours and textures, Nyahan takes us on a wild, psychotropic journey through her
relationships, friendships, pain, gore, sadness and intimacy.
DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION by Nana Nyahan Tachie-Menson.
Theresah Ankomah.
Living and working in Accra, Ghana, Theresah's artistic expressions manifest in the form of performative installations, sculpture, weaving, photography, basketry painting and printmaking.
In recent times, she has been interested in exploring kenaf woven baskets, strings,
jute rope and royal palm at all level and scale of weaving while at the same time
examining the hidden stories associated with the making of these objects. Her interest
also lies in how their usage is susceptible to temporality as well as permanence. She
uses the complexities of weaving to discover and tell these untold stories. Theresah
engages in the material culture of Ghanaian basketry, researching into the
incredible ways this culture interweaves in the nuanced lives of the people who
make and use it.
REBIRTH by Theresah Ankomah.
Joey Lit.
Panelist \ The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
(Jonathan Coffie) popularly known as Joey Lit is the Co-founder, Designer and Artistic Director of Free The Youth, a brand which he has built to become one of the biggest streetwear labels in West Africa.
With his style, authenticity and creativity, Joey has worked with numerous
organizations and brands across the world including Nike, SONY Music and
United Nation amongst others. Through fashion and design, Joey’s mission
is to create a space for young African creatives globally.
Free The Youth Denim | by Joey Lit / Free The Youth Ghana.
Dominique Petit-Frère is a spatial designer / creative strategist of Haitian and Ghanaian descent. She is also the Founder & Vision Director of Limbo Accra, a spatial design studio dedicated to architectural projects, art installations and urban design in West African cities.
Much of her work is centred around innovative and hybrid forms of place-making and is constantly influenced with ideas towards inclusivity, otherness and future. Collaboration and co-production in design making is a critical part of her ethos, as it signifies the first steps towards realising more equitable visions of change to bridge the gaps between a multitude of groups and communities. In this way, design carries more than aesthetic value for her work, but rather functions as a mechanism for socio-economic change for both making things and making things happen.
Dominique Petit-Frère.
Panel Chair \
The Visibility of Young Black Women in the Arts
Na Chainkua Reindorf.
Panelist \ The Visibility of Young Black Women in the Arts
Na Chainkua Reindorf is a mixed media artist and mythmaker. Her work, which ranges from large-scale tapestries to immersive sculptural installations is an exploration of and an ode to the rich cultural history of West African textiles, focusing largely on the complexities and visual culture surrounding masquerades and ceremonial costumes.
Reindorf purposefully incorporates contemporary materials into her work as a way to create new ways of using these historical textiles to explore ongoing social topics including gender, culture and tradition. Reindorf primarily uses natural and artificial fibres and beads for her tapestries, and often includes a large range of materials into her installations. She has also recently begun exploring traditional West African ensigns in the form of appliques and paintings.
Reindorf has exhibited internationally in institutions across the United States, as well as in Nigeria and Ghana.
Sharifah Issaka.
Panel Chair \ The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
Sharifah Issaka is a creative producer and international African. Born in Ghana but raised between Canada and Saudi Arabia, she has been documenting creative culture in the city of Accra for nearly a decade.
Sharifah tells stories by any medium necessary (whether through film, tourism, journalism, or design) and is interested in the use of new media for African development. In 2014, she created Gold Coast Ghana: the first archival account for Ghanaian history on Instagram. She has since turned her focus to archiving the present (as we are creating / curating the future every day) and recently deepened her curatorial practice as a participant in FCA-Ghana’s inaugural CritLab.
Stefania Manfreda.
Panelist \ The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
Designer and curator, Stefania Manfreda is the founder of Elle Lokko, Accra's first women's Concept Store, which first opened its doors in September 2015. Manfreda, currently living in Accra, has interests ranging from photography to fashion. She is also interested in design, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Elle Lokko strives to stay at the forefront of great service and quality whilst remaining authentic and relevant to the modern woman. With an array of amazing brands that design outfits, shoes, accessories, home decor and organic beauty products, Elle Lokko maintains a strong sense of tradition expressed by a nostalgic feel of Africa’s fashion, art, lifestyle and culture.
Asia Clarke.
Panelist \ The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
Asia Clarke is an international development professional, consultant, foresight strategist and artist who is passionate about re-envisioning pan-African diaspora futures. Asia has been a leader in economic empowerment international development projects professionally for the past 7 years in Canada, Dominica, Eswatini and Ghana.
She holds a Masters of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation program from OCAD University. Through her recently founded NGO Diaspora for Equitable Progress (DEP) Africa she co-manages the Free The Youth Ghana Institute - a foresight-informed youth empowerment programme. Asia is also a successful art-based entrepreneur, whose business Wild Moon Jewelry has been featured in many major publications.
Amarachi Nwosu.
Panelist \ The Role of Art in Accra's Urban Future
Amarachi Nwosu is a Nigerian-American photographer, visual artist, filmmaker, writer and speaker currently based in New York City. She is also the founder of Melanin Unscripted, a creative platform and agency aimed to dismantle stereotypes and blur the cultural lines by exposing complex identities and cultures around the world.
Nwosu's involvement in culture spans different industries from music, fashion, sports and social impact. Her work focuses on bridging these spaces through visual storytelling and community impact. Her debut documentary "Black in Tokyo" premiered at the International Center of Photography at the ICP Museum, New York City in 2017 and she has also screened the film in Tokyo, Japan at Ultra Super New Gallery in Harajuku.
She has recently been featured on the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list and was mentioned by The Fader as part of the coolest people shaping Tokyo's music scene. Okay Africa named her in their 2019 100 Women's campaign to celebrate Women's History Month.
