Muzeyi Yelyen is first artist-in-residence at Nubuke’s Wa Centre

Illustrator, designer and writer Muzeyi Yelyen, knew he had stepped into an exacting but exciting terrain when he accepted, with effect from June 8 this year, to be the first artist-in-residence at Nubuke Foundation’s Centre for Textile and Clay at Wa in the Upper West Region.

Artist residencies are initiatives that provide artists with space and resources to support and enhance their artistic practice. Programmes often cover a wide variety of artistic endeavours which could include working with specific communities.

 Since taking on the task,  Muzeyi Yelyen has among other things, been engrossed with researching weaving traditions and their usage in the Upper West  Region and producing digital illustrative artworks that explore and explain those activities.

A graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology who specialised in Design and Illustration, Muzeyi Yelyen hails from Kaleo, near Wa. He said he was surprised when Nubuke settled on him as the first artist-in-residence at its Wa centre.

 “It means a lot to me to be the person to kick-start such an interesting programme. It is befitting for a native artist to be given this opportunity. If it were not me, I would have been happy to see another local artist be the first, considering how rare programmes like this occur in this part of the country.

About Nubuke

 Nubuke Foundation is a private visual art and cultural institution with headquarters in Accra. Founded in 2006, it serves as a connection for arts and culture across the country. It has had an active presence at Wa since about 2016.

 Muzeyi states that growing up in the Upper West Region and knowing the traditions there have been extremely useful in carrying out his artist-in-residence assignment. 

 “Knowing the native tongue comes in handy in my research work. Luckily, I have a chance as an illustrator and native to be able to tell my own cultural and visual narratives and to communicate subtle nuances and ideas.”

 By July 7 this year when the residency officially ends, Muzeyi Yelyen hopes to leave behind artworks that reflect the rich traditions of the Upper West Region and add to the overall process of documenting and recording them, which are among the things Nubuke is committed to doing.

 “I want to be remembered by my contribution to making the cultural traditions of the Upper West Region better known,” Muzeyi heartily expressed.

 Nubuke Foundation expects four other artists, after Muzeyi Yelyen, to be in residence at its Wa Centre before the end of 2023.

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