ACCRA.- Gallery 1957 announced that it has expanded its activities with a second space in Accra.
Recently inaugurated with a solo exhibition by British-Ghanaian artist Godfried Donkor (The First Day of the Yam Custom: 1817, curated by Koyo Kouoh and on until 30 October), the new location is an exhibition and project space of 220 m² in Accra’s new Galleria Mall.
Located within Gold Coast City - an ongoing development for the capital encompassing offices, residential and retail space - the space compliments the gallery’s existing location at the nearby Kempinski Hotel.
The new space allows for larger-scale presentations by the gallery’s expanding roster of West African artists. Upcoming exhibitions include a collaborative project between fantasy coffin artist Paa Joe and performance artist Elisabeth Efua Sutherland, opening 21 November 2017, to coincide with Paa Joe’s 70th birthday.
Based in Accra and working internationally, Gallery 1957 has a curatorial focus on West Africa. The Gallery presents a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the region’s most significant artists currently bridging the gap between local and international practices. Expanding conversations around contemporary art in West Africa, Gallery 1957 serves as a vital platform for emerging artists in one of Africa’s major art centres. Founded by Marwan Zakhem in 2016, the gallery has evolved from over 15 years of private collecting.
Named after the year Ghana gained independence, Gallery 1957 reaches a local and international public, while sustaining the vision and authenticity of West African artistic traditions. Gallery 1957 expands outside of the gallery walls through a public programme that includes residencies, talks, off-site projects, performances and commissioning new site-specific installations.
Currently showing Godfried Donkor:
The First Day of The Yam Custom: 1817
Curated by Koyo Kouoh
20 August - 30 October 2017
Born in Ghana, Donkor studied across Europe before settling in the UK. Working across continents and cultures, his sociological explorations consider the shared histories of Africans and Europeans. Donkor has exhibited widely at museums and biennials internationally, including most recently at Afriques Capitales - curated by Simon Njami at La Villiette, Paris, 2017 - and EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial curated by Koyo Kouoh, Limerick, 2016.
The artist’s new body of work reimagines an illustration by the 19th century English explorer Thomas Bowdich, now held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London and thought to be the first recorded image of the visual aesthetic and culture of the Asante region of Ghana. Created in 1818, The First Day of the Yam Custom depicts a procession from the annual Asante yam festival in Kumasi, an event held to mark the first harvest of yams during the autumn season. Sent to West Africa by the Royal African Company – a British commerce corporation – Bowdich was employed to negotiate a treaty with the king of the Asante region: Osei Bonsu. Bowdich’s image, and verbal description of the 1817 procession, was documented in his resulting publication, Mission From Cape Coast Castle to Asantee.
Using installation, painting and collage on board, Donkor’s exhibition will reinterpret this scene on a life-size scale. The exhibition follows the artist’s 4 month residency in Ghana with Gallery 1957.
