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After over 50 editions navigating the worldwide Black diaspora, this represents a final column. The experience proved incredibly gratifying, with immense gratitude offered to all the attentive readers.

Exploring the Accra Festival

Visiting the showcases, artworks and shows of the festival, observers witness how the finest art sustains and builds a country’s heritage and essence. The focal point was without doubt the artist's stunning a profound exploration of ritual and time, which put his innovative afrogallonism in full view: a concept that transforms water vessels into captivating creations, tapestries of golden hues. The display was created as a testament to the endurance of this area, a historical quarter of Accra.

This area – largely home to the Ga ethnic group, a community of fishermen – is additionally where a great number of returning Africans arrived from South America and settled in the 19th century. Known as the Tabom, they brought Portuguese language and culture.

All across Jamestown, you can see a fusion of architecture. There’s Fort Vicentia, featuring its characteristic colonial-era brickwork and door arches. Also present is the iconic Jamestown Lighthouse, built in the 1800s and subsequently given its signature banded facade.

Traditions of Mourning

Furthermore notable about Jamestown is the ever-present sight of obituary announcements. Wherever you look, be it affixed to buildings or on larger billboards, there are service information and expressions of mourning. In Jamestown, as throughout Ghana, memorial services are large-scale social gatherings.

In Clottey’s breathtaking show, every aspect of the sights, sounds and religious textures of Jamestown are evoked – particularly in the enveloping Jamestown nshonaa installation. In this space, you’re soothed by the recording of crashing waves with sand underfoot, while shacks, draped nets and representations of vessels celebrate its dynamic, generational seafaring tradition. Yet being present in this exhibition space, it's hard to ignore the mountains of cast-off garments that mar the charm and peace of the area.

Beyond the Headline Act

Accra Cultural Week also features much more. Inside an raw space at the campus, artist Sylvester showcased On the Other Side of Languish, an incredibly moving, minimalist presentation that featured three-dimensional works and canvases produced in concert with metalworkers.

And then there is the prestigious art award for Ghanaian women creators. It included the debut presentation of a recent laureate, whose work utilizes personal family archives to create a depiction of life in the nation's recent history. The event also honored a latest champion, whose diverse work is deeply invested in the textile traditions of women in the Volta region.

A Permanent Impact

While the overseas community has grown been attracted home to west Africa in the western winter, an increasing number are considering visiting for the cultural season to immerse themselves in the area's festival period. Between this festival and other major events, what is evident are creative communities that are not simply emerging or “upcoming” but have forged an complete landscape that is here to stay.

Finally, the experience provides a vision of Accra that serves as a manifesto for ecological stewardship and the keeping alive of heritage. It is a compelling tribute to adaptability in all its manifestations.