Patrons of the fine arts from across the creative spectrum gathered under one roof to celebrate Ghanaians’ amazing sense of style to play with a piece of fabric, paint brush or digital design that is truly admirable.
Emerging artists, industry icons and anyone with a passion for creativity met at the MESH Confabs Behance Reviews, to share their innovative artworks, inspiring stories and mind blowing concepts.
Organiser Hassan Salih, founder of MESH Ghana, said he loved the audience’s reaction to what they were seeing and thought the keynote speakers were phenomenal.
He added: “It was amazing how the audience were awed, you could see it in their faces. It was a great event considering we had absolutely no funding for it and I must thank the team for their relentless efforts.
“The aim has always been to foster collaboration and I’ve been happy to hear of how creatives have teamed up after meeting at MESHConfabs. I hope more happen, especially in tackling national development issues.”
iSpace, in Osu, Accra, played host to Saturdays glittering hub of creative masterminds and first to take centre stage as a keynote speaker was multi-talented entrepreneur, Nana Kwadwo Duah.
The CEO of brand consulting firm Oxygen Company of Ghana gave a motivational talk on his rise to the top and the tough decisions he had to make to get there. He said to succeed you need to choose your enemies wisely and cut out anyone or anything unnecessary to get the job done well.
Second to share her story was Ghana’s multi award-winning, fashion empress, Nelly Hagan Aboagye. Currently hemming the fabric of contemporary African couture with her innovative brand Duaba Serwa, Nelly had the audience gripped as she told of her journey from bedroom bead sewing to runway royalty.
She couldn’t stress enough to her fellow creatives that hard work and sticking at it really does pay off, referring to it as her national anthem. Speaking after the event she said: “it is definitely a step in the right direction for expanding creativity in Ghana. It provides a comfortable setting for creatives to talk about what they do and how to improve their work.”
Last to take the stand was sensational shutterbug Bob Pixel. Renowned for his breathtaking portraits and magical landscapes of the hidden gems of Ghana, Bob gave us a glimpse of talent and rare ability to capture the raw emotion and expression in his subjects in a short photo stream. A superb way to round off the evening.
Other highlights included presentations by crowd funding platform Nim Street, Ghana’s paramount creative portal Afrobougee, animated films by Animax Fyb and Zenkz and many more. Attendees had a chance to network over refreshments in hopes of collaborating on Ghana’s next earth shattering creative concept.
Mr Salih said he is hoping to attract sponsorship to be able to host even larger events. Mesh Ghana is a dynamic platform for meeting, exploring and sharing Ghanaian creativity and bringing hidden talent to the surface and digging out underground events.
The event was part of the internationally held Behance Portfolio Review Week, held twice annually, that has spread to thousands of cities across the globe with a goal of bringing together creative professionals.
