Godfried Donkor: It’s a Numbers Game

We’re pleased to share that Godfried Donkor has opened It’s a Numbers Game, his first solo exhibition in a UK public institution, now on view at Firstsite, Colchester from 22 May – 30 August 2026.

Bringing together new and existing works across collage, painting, embroidery and installation, the exhibition transforms the gallery into a layered environment where histories of empire, resistance, commerce and identity converge. Through his distinctive visual language, Donkor reimagines the relationships between Britain, West Africa and the Caribbean, exploring what he describes as a “triangle of commerce” and the lasting ways these interconnected histories continue to shape contemporary culture and identity.

Trained as a painter, Donkor developed collage as both a method of construction and a way of thinking through historical narrative. Across the exhibition, archival photography intersects with contemporary imagery, Financial Times pages merge with Ghanaian Adinkra symbolism, and European heraldry intertwines with African textile traditions. Through these juxtapositions, Donkor proposes history as something fluid and continuously reshaped through memory, exchange and perspective.

At Firstsite, the exhibition becomes grounded within Colchester’s own historical landscape. Donkor draws connections between the resistance of Boudicca and Yaa Asantewaa, while also responding to the work of Colchester-born writer and illustrator Sarah Bowdich. Her nineteenth-century depictions of the Ashanti are revisited through Donkor’s contemporary lens, opening new conversations around representation, historical memory and cultural inheritance.

The exhibition features large-scale collages of African figures emerging from fields of Financial Times text, intricate embroidered works combining heraldic motifs with Adinkra symbols, and monumental paintings revisiting historical scenes. A gallery space transformed into a boxing ring reflects Donkor’s ongoing engagement with boxing as a metaphor for migration, resilience and cultural exchange.

Accompanying the exhibition is a newly commissioned soundscape composed from previously unheard material transcribed into musical notation by Thomas Edward Bowdich. Emerging from acts of listening and documentation rather than formal composition, the soundscape resonates throughout the gallery, responding to rhythms of ceremony, encounter and procession.

Presented as part of Firstsite’s wider programme Why Humans Make Art, It’s a Numbers Game continues Donkor’s longstanding exploration of diaspora, visual storytelling and historical reclamation. We are proud to celebrate this significant moment in the artist’s career and look forward to welcoming audiences to the exhibition throughout the summer.

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