EU Delegation to Ghana partners Kuenyehia Trust for Contemporary Art for unique art exhibition, panel discussion

The European Union (EU) Delegation to Ghana is organising an art exhibition dubbed ‘In Dialogue’ at Alliance Française Accra from Thursday 4th February 2021 to Wednesday 17th February 2021.

The exhibition is curated by Esse Dabla-Attikpo for the Kuenyehia Trust for Contemporary Art, and will display works by 12 young contemporary artists from Ghana and Europe.

The exhibition, free and open to all but on appointment only, aims at supporting Ghanaian youth working in the creative sector. Six (6) Ghanaian artists - Andrews Torsu, Ian Kwakye, Lesley Semackor, Negyem Adonoo, Simon Bowman and Theresah Ankomah, have been selected to create and showcase works for the exhibition.

These talents have each received an artist’s grant that will allow them to create one-of-a-kind pieces that will be unveiled to the public during the exhibition.

The paintings, installations, photographs and digital paintings created will not only shed light on one or several aspects of the work of the European Union in Ghana, but also aim at generating conversations around new and innovative ways to collaborate.

Supported by Alliance Française Accra, ‘In Dialogue’ also seeks to enhance the cultural dialogue between Ghana and the European Union through the experiences of six (6) female European artists based in Ghana:

Tjasa Rener, (Slovenia), Anne-Laure Gueret (France), Clarissa Rotzel (Ghana/Germany), Ulla Deventer (Germany), Isabel Abreu (Portugal) and Natalija Gormalova (Latvia). Their artworks portray the Ghanaian way of life through a European lens.

The physical exhibition will be accompanied by a series of virtual content shared across the Kuenyehia Trust’s social media platforms. These include interviews of the participating artists, walkthrough video and curator’s video statement.

The topic of Covid-19 and how it has impacted the art sector will be discussed on Thursday 18th February 2021 at 6.00 pm prompt in an online panel discussion moderated by Media and Communications Specialist, Marian Touré.

Entitled ‘African Artists and Spaces in the midst of a global pandemic’ the dialogue will draw on industry stakeholders including Joseph Awuah-Darko, Founder, Noldor Art Residency, William Senyo, Director, Impact Hub Accra and Tjasa Rener, Artist and Founder of the Open House Studio.

They will exchange on the emergence of spaces—physical or virtual—that allow artists to remain active especially in the difficult context of the COVID-19 pandemic.