.kojo Adumatta
"Who is Nana Yaa Asantewaa"
@formationnow “Now let's be ANTI RACIST” from 9.9.-26.9.2021
A year ago, I was asked to think of an art piece of the great Nana Yaa Asantewaa.
Yaa Asantewaa is a hero in Ghanaian history. A brave woman who led an army to fight British colonisers, defend the great Kingdom of Asante and its treasures around the beginning of the 20. century.
There are no images of the real Yaa Asantewaa. All depictions one can find is a picture of an actor playing a role.
The question I had to ask myself is the following: “How do I depict a person who nobody knows how she looks like?” And more importantly: “How do I free myself from eurocentric heroisation of her?”
First, I struggled to find a suitable format for this task. Am I going to do a painting? Will it be digital, or should I try sculpturing? I ended up changing the question and asked myself: “What is her legacy? How is she remembered, and are this generation of female Ghanaians aware of her achievements?”
I decided to visit an elementary school in Ghana and ask some pupils about Yaa Asantewaa. This exhibition is the outcome of my thoughts and ideas. With this project, I want to encourage our female Ghanaians to look back in history and find their strength through our historic female heroes. #sankofa
Poem by @prettyboynana (to be seen on the exhibition)
Music by @b.holdbrook (benjiOnDakeys)
A year ago, I was asked to think of an art piece of the great Nana Yaa Asantewaa.
Yaa Asantewaa is a hero in Ghanaian history. A brave woman who led an army to fight British colonisers, defend the great Kingdom of Asante and its treasures around the beginning of the 20. century.
There are no images of the real Yaa Asantewaa. All depictions one can find is a picture of an actor playing a role.
The question I had to ask myself is the following: “How do I depict a person who nobody knows how she looks like?” And more importantly: “How do I free myself from eurocentric heroisation of her?”
First, I struggled to find a suitable format for this task. Am I going to do a painting? Will it be digital, or should I try sculpturing? I ended up changing the question and asked myself: “What is her legacy? How is she remembered, and are this generation of female Ghanaians aware of her achievements?”
I decided to visit an elementary school in Ghana and ask some pupils about Yaa Asantewaa. This exhibition is the outcome of my thoughts and ideas. With this project, I want to encourage our female Ghanaians to look back in history and find their strength through our historic female heroes. #sankofa
Poem by @prettyboynana (to be seen on the exhibition)
Music by @b.holdbrook (benjiOnDakeys)
Lukulule e.V.
Stockmeyerstr 43, 20457 Hamburg
Germany
Germany
Opening: September 9, 2021
Closing: September 26, 2021