Australian donation helps promote contemporary art

Accra, June 21, GNA - As part of Australia's contribution towards the promotion of contemporary art in Ghana, the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Jonathan Richardson has donated a set of books on Australian Contemporary and Aboriginal Art to the Foundation for Contemporary Art (FCA) Ghana, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO).

The NGO is seeking to create an active network to provide a critical forum for the development of Contemporary Art in the country. The books covered Australia's rich modern and contemporary painting schools, as well as photography, sculpture and printmaking. A statement issued in Accra by the Australian High Commission said some of the books were on Aboriginal Art.


At a ceremony in Accra to present the books to the Foundation, Mr Richardson observed that art could make an important contribution to national development. He said this contribution was not only in the spiritual dimension but also in the material sphere.


Mr Richardson said he was confident that people unfamiliar with Australian Art would find it vital and vibrant with many distinctive styles. He noted that Australian painting had found its own voice through inspiration from Australia's unique light and landscape. Urban imagery from the big cities where the majority of Australians actually lived had influenced Australian contemporary painting.

Mr Richardson said Aboriginal Artists had perhaps made the most distinctive contribution to Australian art in recent decades. He explained that traditions of artistic expression as well as traditional religious ideas had influenced the Aboriginal Artists but they had given these very contemporary forms and had gained wide international recognition. The donation is to assist FCA Ghana fulfil its vision of creating a library that would eventually be available to the public.


Virginia Ryan, Founder of FCA Ghana and Co-Founder Professor Joe Nkrumah thanked the Australian High Commission for the gift and said it would help the foundation to achieve its objective of gathering and cataloguing arts related texts and information on International Contemporary Arts.