Rita Mawuena Benissan × Princela Biyaa × Kweku Okokroko
"Looking For Beginnings"
In the group exhibition "Looking for Beginnings" the Ghanaian artists Kweku Okoroko, Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa take a look at the cultural heritage of the country. Among other things, they address topics of religion, history and mythology from Ghanaian or Ghanaian-diasporic perspectives in their works. The title "Looking for Beginnings" is based on the conceptual installation of the same name by the artists Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa.
Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa:
In Ghana, the royal umbrellas are used in the chieftaincy. The royals – king, queen mother and chief – stand and dance under the umbrella surrounded by their entourage. The umbrellas are to provide shade and protect the person from the weather and sun, but they also serve as an indicator of that person. The fabrication of the umbrella represents the person and the community walking under the umbrella.
The use of color and size establishes a power dynamic with the different types of umbrellas. In the installation "Looking for Beginnings" these umbrellas become the projection surface for the family histories of the artists Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa. They share stories of searching for beginnings, of family archives and histories, and thereby intend to engage in the recollection of the past.
Rita Mawuena Benissan focuses on her grandfather's legacy. Her mother told her many stories about him and the inaccessibility of his photos and chieftaincy legacy that he had in the Volta region and throughout Ghana.
Princela Biyaa takes a look at her parents' histories, their told and untold stories and links them to West African folktales of the spider Anansi. She moves between reality and fiction.
Furthermore, the artists invite Ghanaians on the continent and in the diaspora to look for their own family archives and have their photos included in the installation. Reclaiming the power of the family history and legacies found in the photos through this process and projecting them on the umbrella.
Kweku Okokroko:
Through use of symbolic expressions in depiction and representation, I aim to, with these works, communicate the essence of the Ghanaian cultural landscape; Its wealth in depth, its wisdom of knowledge of selves, and its beauty in ability to connect us to those of our ancestral generations.
Our cultural heritage is the very compass to which we owe our past, the present and the future, without which we know not whence we come, where we are and to where we are bound. And in this spirit, I make these paintings as a vote of participation in the voyage on which we embark as Africans and Africans in diaspora of generations of this era, in our collective aim to find all pieces of ourselves that have been stolen, hidden or lost.
This collection of 7 paintings are of Ghanaian cultural elements such as food, music, literature, textiles, religion, politics and mythology.
I wish to share with all the beautiful culture of this place that is to me home, and to invite fellow Ghanaians to join in this message of reflection, appreciation and positive action of practice.
For I believe that it is through reflection on our culture as a people, that will come a renewed appreciation of this treasure, and the bountiful joys that its practice brings.
Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa:
In Ghana, the royal umbrellas are used in the chieftaincy. The royals – king, queen mother and chief – stand and dance under the umbrella surrounded by their entourage. The umbrellas are to provide shade and protect the person from the weather and sun, but they also serve as an indicator of that person. The fabrication of the umbrella represents the person and the community walking under the umbrella.
The use of color and size establishes a power dynamic with the different types of umbrellas. In the installation "Looking for Beginnings" these umbrellas become the projection surface for the family histories of the artists Rita Mawuena Benissan and Princela Biyaa. They share stories of searching for beginnings, of family archives and histories, and thereby intend to engage in the recollection of the past.
Rita Mawuena Benissan focuses on her grandfather's legacy. Her mother told her many stories about him and the inaccessibility of his photos and chieftaincy legacy that he had in the Volta region and throughout Ghana.
Princela Biyaa takes a look at her parents' histories, their told and untold stories and links them to West African folktales of the spider Anansi. She moves between reality and fiction.
Furthermore, the artists invite Ghanaians on the continent and in the diaspora to look for their own family archives and have their photos included in the installation. Reclaiming the power of the family history and legacies found in the photos through this process and projecting them on the umbrella.
Kweku Okokroko:
Through use of symbolic expressions in depiction and representation, I aim to, with these works, communicate the essence of the Ghanaian cultural landscape; Its wealth in depth, its wisdom of knowledge of selves, and its beauty in ability to connect us to those of our ancestral generations.
Our cultural heritage is the very compass to which we owe our past, the present and the future, without which we know not whence we come, where we are and to where we are bound. And in this spirit, I make these paintings as a vote of participation in the voyage on which we embark as Africans and Africans in diaspora of generations of this era, in our collective aim to find all pieces of ourselves that have been stolen, hidden or lost.
This collection of 7 paintings are of Ghanaian cultural elements such as food, music, literature, textiles, religion, politics and mythology.
I wish to share with all the beautiful culture of this place that is to me home, and to invite fellow Ghanaians to join in this message of reflection, appreciation and positive action of practice.
For I believe that it is through reflection on our culture as a people, that will come a renewed appreciation of this treasure, and the bountiful joys that its practice brings.
aaimba Gallery × Woven
Lise-Meitner-Str 39-41, 10589 Berlin
Germany
Visits by appointment.
Germany
Visits by appointment.
Opening: January 26, 2023
Closing: March 24, 2023
