EXHIBITIONS

Cultural Week 2025 began on Thursday 30 October with the opening of LIGHTYEARS OF US by Denyse Gawu-Mensah, winner of the 2024 Yaa Asantewaa Art Prize. 

Curated by Angelica Litta Modignani, this debut solo exhibition at Gallery 1957 draws on Gawu-Mensah’s rich family archive of photographs from the  1960s and 1970s, depicting Ghana’s dynamic post-independence period, reconstructing personal and  collective histories into tactile records of time. Working with image transfer techniques from digital collages Gawu-Mensah transforms vintage photographs into fragile yet enduring records of personal and collective history that she layers manually into textiles. Her practice engages the textures of memory—faded, worn, but never lost—while exploring  what is passed down, and what disappears, across generations. 

On Saturday, 1st November, a private tour of Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe’s’ Where the Waters Meet was held in the presence of the artist.

In this exhibition, Otis Quaicoe returns to Ghana with a body of work that celebrates black leisure, joy, and the radical act of rest. Marking his first solo exhibition in his country of birth, this homecoming is also a meditation on water—its capacity to hold us, to offer respite, and its particular significance for black bodies navigating histories of exclusion and belonging. Here, pools and oceans become sites of reclamation, spaces where pleasure is not only possible but essential.

STUDIO VISITS & ACTIVITIES

Accra Cultural Week 2025 delivered a dynamic and engaging weekend filled with immersive cultural experiences and artistic discovery. The journey began on Thursday with a day trip to Cape Coast, featuring a private tour of the historic Cape Coast Castle and providing a compelling introduction to the week’s cultural journey.

On Friday, guests explored Dikan Center and dot.ateliers, gaining insight into the city’s vibrant contemporary art scene. The day continued with a private opening and guided tour of Reginald Sylvester II’s solo exhibition at Limbo Museum, led by curator Diallo Simon-Ponte and founder Dominique Petit-Frère.

Saturday’s itinerary included a visit to WorldFaze Art Practice, where guests met artists-in-residence Selorm Amerkofia and Samuella Graham. Guests then visited Nubuke Foundation for a guided experience led by founder and director Odile Tevie.

The week also featured an exclusive tour of Gallery 1957’s Residency Studios, offering behind-the-scenes access to the workspaces of Godfried Donkor and Kwaku Yaro. Guests had the opportunity to engage directly with the artists, learning about their creative practices and forthcoming projects. 

On Sunday, Si Hene, a foundation dedicated to preserving Ghana’s chieftaincy institutions and traditional culture, was unveiled in its new location in the presence of its founder, Rita Mawuena Benissan.

As the weekend unfolded, attendees traveled to Kumasi for visits to the KNUST Department of Painting & Sculpture with Mr. Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (also known as Castro) and members of the blaxTARLINES collective, followed by a tour of the Manhyia Palace Museum led by Collection Manager Gordon Frimpong. Together, these experiences provided a rich exploration of Ghana’s artistic, historical, and cultural landscape.

The highlight of the week was the opening of Serge Attukwei Clottey’s [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, a thought-provoking solo exhibition co-curated by Allotey Bruce-Konuah and Ato Annan, which opened on Friday, 31st October.

Almost a decade after inaugurating Gallery 1957 with his debut solo exhibition My Mother’s Wardrobe in 2016, Serge Attukwei Clottey returns to take over our 1,400 sqm Unlimited Gallery, presenting [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow - the first and only solo exhibition ever held in the expansive venue of Unlimited. Clottey returns to Jamestown—the historic coastal enclave that has long anchored his practice—to explore how home, memory, and identity endure amid the pressures of urban transformation.

The day after the opening, on Saturday, 1st November, Serge Attukwei Clottey reunited with the GoLokal Collective for the first time in two years to activate his exhibition. This immersive experience allowed visitors to witness the artist’s reflection on survival, generational care, and communal endurance.

The performance gave guests an intimate opportunity to engage with the transformative power of intentional creation, exploring how knowledge, support, identity, and ritual can sustain communities and shape a shared journey of survival.