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| Gallery Of Ghana's Most Celebrated Artists |
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| Posted on: 2007-Sep-22 Times |
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DURING this year of Ghana’s 50th Independence Anniversary, one fact which has emerged globally as an acknowledgement, particularly by the world’s press, is that many of the foremost cultural producers in the world are Ghanaians.
¨ One of the most popular contemporary architects in the world, David Adjaye is a Ghanaian.
¨ The most lauded African Artist, El Anatsui, who makes remarkable textile-like sculptures from recycled bottle tops and rusted tins, is a Ghanaian.
There are a host of popular musicians, artists, writers, authors and architects whose work abroad continues to advertise Ghana as a site of cultural excellence. These individuals, such as architect Joe Addo, Painter,, Owusu Ankomah and Booker prize-winning author and architect Leslie Lokko, are internationally lauded as global leaders in culture, but remain virtually unknown in the country of their origin.
Even more distressing, is that many local talents who have remained in Ghana, such as artists Ablade Glover, Victor Butler and Kofi Setto receive little attention from the local media in Ghana, and so find themselves arguably better respected abroad than in the communities that they strive to serve.
It is urgent that Ghanaian citizens are made aware of the achievements of their artists both at home and abroad. With these questions in mind, Ghanaian Artists Senam Okudzeto and Godfred Donkor formed an NGO entitled Art in Social Structures (AISS) in order to encourage a creative and practical discourse about art and contemporary life.
AISS and its members believe that the role of Art is fundamental to all civil societies. It is important that a community’s creative resources are preserved and nurtured for its own growth and for future generations.
This NGO is a unique organisation; it is the only one of its kind, founded by, funded and run solely by African artists.
AISS’s many artist members are successful and internationally active; they joined the organisation in order to demonstrate their social consciousness through acts of charity and educational mentoring programmes.
At present, AISS organises exhibitions, cultural and educational exchange programmes and university scholarships for students in Ghana. One of its first two cultural projects in Ghana and art exhibition, by artists from Ghana and abroad resident in Accra took place on Thursday, September 13, 2007 at Alliance.
The second project was a "Journalists Art Criticism Workshop", designed to encourage professional journalists with little or no art training to become engaged with Visual Culture. The workshop was conceptualised by AISS advisory board member Dr. Joe Nkrumah, the former director of the National Museum of Ghana and NYU Professor, who pointed out this important opportunity for AISS to serve Accra’s cultural community.
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