Arts film at Nubuke

A research and documentary project, “The Black Stars of Ghana-Art District,” covering the contemporary visual arts scene in Ghana will be screened at the Nubuke Foundation in Accra on Friday, March 13.

The project is a series of film interviews which presents different Ghanaian contemporary visual artists in separate episodes where they explain and present their individual perspectives and personal stories. 

The film also provides the forum for some well known visual artists, such as Prof. Ablade Glover, Wiz Kudowor, Kofi Setordji, Marigold Akufo-Addo, Larry Otoo, Gabriel Eklou, Kobina Nyarko and Kwadwo Ani, to talk about their artistic careers, their views on the status of contemporary art in Ghana and the motivations that inspire them to do their best work.

The conversations with these artists document the work, experiences and inspirations of a representative cross-section of contemporary visual artists in Ghana from a personal Ghanaian viewpoint. 

This new angle in researching and documenting contemporary art from an African perspective replaces the widely accepted practice of having European art historians, critics and art curators determine the narrative of contemporary art from Africa by assessing and evaluating it through an Eurocentric lens.

The videos are excerpts from a big archive of research that was started in 2005 by Safia Dickersbach, a Berlin-based Tanzanian curator and publisher. 

Thoughts and comments about artistic life and art production in Ghana, as well as current developments in the country's cultural life are discussed in the film, which provides the platform for further discussion and debate on the growth of the visual art scene in Ghana and Africa in general.