EXHIBITIONS

Cultural Week 2024 began with the opening of The Listening Sweet II Ghana by London-born Barbadian artist Andrew Pierre Hart on Thursday, 24th October.

This debut solo exhibition at Gallery 1957 featured new paintings, murals, and sculptures created during Hart’s two-month residency in Accra. Drawing inspiration from sound and painting, Hart’s vibrant works explore themes of healing, resistance, and celebration, reflecting the rhythms of Ghanaian culture and the artist’s unique sonic mythology. Guests were immersed in a dynamic sensory experience, where visual art met music in a powerful call to listen and reflect.

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On Friday, 25th October, Gallery 1957 hosted a private view for Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness, the first solo exhibition by Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah, winner of the 2023 Yaa Asantewaa Art Prize.

Curated by Ato Annan and Katherine Finerty, the exhibition features the artist’s intricate, monochromatic works that meditate on time, labour, and resilience. Through repetitive actions of mark-making, cutting, and stitching, Arde-Acquah elevates the ordinary into an extraordinary exploration of the self and our connection to the world around us.

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On Saturday, 26th October, Arde-Acquah took her exhibition a step further with a five-hour durational performance. This immersive experience allowed visitors to witness the artist’s creative process in real-time, embodying a radical presence and focusing on the rhythms and echoes of daily gestures. The performance gave guests an intimate opportunity to engage with the sacred potential of mindful creation, turning repetition into a meditative journey that transcended the gallery walls.

STUDIO VISITS & ACTIVITIES

Accra Cultural Week 2024 offered an action-packed weekend, brimming with immersive experiences and artistic exploration. The journey began on Thursday with a day trip to Cape Coast, including a private tour of the historic Cape Coast Castle, setting the tone for a weekend filled with rich cultural insights.

Guests were guided on Friday through Dikan Center and Lafa Foundation for the Arts, discovering the vibrant artistic ecosystems around Accra. The energy continued with a studio visit to Serge Attukwei Clottey’s Studio in Labadi, followed by an inspiring tour of dot.ateliers, offering a glimpse into the heart of contemporary art practice.

The weekend also included an exclusive tour of Gallery 1957’s Residency Studios, where guests explored the studios of Awanle Ayiboro Hawa Ali, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Godfried Donkor, and Rebekka Macht, engaging with artists about their creative processes and upcoming works.

As the weekend unfolded, attendees also visited the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art and Nkrumah Volini with artist Ibrahim Mahama, before traveling to Red Clay Studio in Tamale, deepening their understanding of the northern Ghanaian arts community.

The highlight of the week was the opening of Keeping Time, a thought-provoking group exhibition curated by Ekow Eshun and Karon Hepburn, which opened on Saturday, 26th October. The evening featured a live performance by Ria Boss, supported by Kojo Trip, adding an energetic and captivating musical element to the event.

Building on the themes explored in 2023’s In and Out of Time, Keeping Time presents a powerful dialogue around the concepts of Blackness, being, and the perception of time. Featuring both Ghana-based and international artists from the African diaspora, the exhibition questions and challenges conventional views of time through works that are both abstract and figurative, dream-like and speculative. The show pushes boundaries, inviting viewers to engage with African diasporic experiences of time, disrupting the linear perceptions that often dominate Western modernity.

The exhibition introduces new artists to the Gallery 1957 roster, including Okiki Akinfe, Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, Alvaro Barrington, Winston Branch, Kenwyn Crichlow, Kimathi Donkor, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Lyle Ashton Harris, Andrew Pierre Hart, Che Lovelace, Sola Olulode, Sikelela Owen, Ravelle Pillay, Elias Sime, Lina Iris Viktor, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Returning artists featured in the show include Gideon Appah, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Amoako Boafo, Phoebe Boswell, Godfried Donkor, Modupeola Fadugba, Julianknxx, Arthur Timothy, and Alberta Whittle.

Keeping Time invites us to reconsider time not just as a measurable entity but as a dynamic and personal experience shaped by history, power, and perception. The exhibition offers a platform for expansive dreaming and possibility, challenging the historical imposition of linear time and inviting a more fluid, African diasporic understanding of the past, present, and future.