ART SPEAKS LOUDER IN THE STREETS OF ACCRA: #CHALEWOTE2014

Photography by GHANYOBI MANTEY , KOBE SUBRAMANIAM & ACCRA DOT ALT

Accra’s deepest history lies in James Town, the original port city leading to the
development of Ghana as a nation. James Town is a time capsule and a treasure
trove all at once. The place is filled with beautiful colonial architecture and
spirited boxing legends, a tumultuous history of the transatlantic slave trade and
and a people’s diehard spirit to remember who they are. Here a constellation of
families, cultural practices, and aquatic livelihoods persistently remix James
Town’s past, present and future. It is a place of endings and beginnings, of
ongoing deaths and rebirths.

IBRAHIM MAHAMA

SOCIAL REALITY

This installation covers a building with fabric made from coal sacks and wax print panels. This is a project of relational aesthetics. The architecture is seen as an extension of the body irrespective of it’s ” true relationship” with the site and its history.

CHALE WOTE 2014: FASHION AND ART SPREAD

Photography by MANTSE ARYEEQUAYE | KOFI ANTI AND KOBE SUBRAMANIAM

CHALE WOTE 2014 opened with an exhilarating flash of sights, sounds and energetic inventions by Ghanaian and international artists in James Town. Over 200 artists transformed old British Accra into a live museum with a long trace of multi-disciplinary art. Over two days, the streets of James Town were filled with fashion and art. Local and international designers were there to showcase and sell their amazing designs to the world.

Gye Nyame!

Some of the ornaments that sold at CHALE WOTE.

MY CHALEWOTE 2014 EXPERIENCE

As told by JASE TAY | Photography by KOFI ANTI & KOBE SUBRAMANIAM

Tema International School (T.I.S) students in a procession at #ChaleWote2014

2014’s edition of the Chale Wote Street Art Festival came off a buzzing start, augmenting the fervour that accompanied the just ended Homowo Festival. The energy and excitement was infectious and even days after the 2-day festival, themed, “Death: An Eternal Journey Into Limitless Rebirth”, people still can’t get over it.  The euphoria that accompanied the festival beautifully complemented its theme; the festival flames seemingly going out but instead of just dying down, continue burning, eagerly waiting a rekindling which, rest assured, will happen next year. Jamestown played host Accra’s creative community who brought their own to the tropes of beautiful “madness” to this year’s festival. To keep these superb and awesome participants enthralled, Accra [dot] Alt lined up an ensemble of creatives whose only agenda was to enthral the visiting public, sending them on a trans-dimensional journey of imagined spaces.

Adjo Kisser’s installation portrayed the cycle of gender imbalance and stereotypes in Ghana and the world at large. Drawing inspiration from global events that expose the blatant disregard for the female gender, Untitled (709) artistically brings to the fore, the continuous murder of the female identity. Not forgetting the impossible to miss, elaborate and overwhelming sack installation by Ibrahim Mahama, showing all the different shades and patches of life, beautifully strewn together in majestic stitches.

Rolling out the messengers.