These days, commuters and residents along the Kanda Expressway between Kawukudi and Kanda have a new view along their community landscape: a bright, expressive art mural at Club 10 junction, painted on a family’s high, cement wall and running more than 50 feet long. “Imagine Accra,” the mural commands in bold, curving purple lettering. The command is accompanied by a set of familiar scenes — a tro-tro, a waakye food stand, people dancing Azonto, even the face of Kwame Nkrumah (a visionary and the country’s first president).
In Accra, a city where telecom, movie, church and other entities use the spread of public and private walls for promotions (or in the case of the AMA, to document land use infringements), the existence of wall art — such as graffiti or in actual murals — is few and far between. The local arts organization Nima Muhinmanchi Art (NMA) is not only trying to change this, but is also involving local youth in the process. The Club 10 junction along Kanda Expressway, which separates the Kanda neighborhood from Kawukudi, was the latest in NMA and Nima youth’s creative endeavors.
Over the past two years, NMA has been empowering youth in the Nima community through artistic expression, and enabling them to showcase their skills and beautify their community spaces. In addition to training and encouraging their youth to learn and create art traditional canvasses, the organization takes their artists’ work public: From the Kawukudi park mural to the Village Garden Toilet, the organization uses walls and urban spaces and repurposes them for art.
This mural at Kanda is about Accra and Ghana’s past, and the future, says NMA co-creative director Larry Animu. “The backside [of the mural] is the past and the front side is the future,” he continues. “The way Kwame Nkrumah is facing is the future — so if you look at the way he’s facing, it’s visualizing the future: that if the future should be this way, it will be better for his people.”
“We think the present is not the best, we need more development. when it comes to education, economic social [aspects], everything,” he says.
Reblogged this on akilitalkspolitics and commented:
More and more communities are beginning to use art as form of bringing light and hope back into their communities. In the United States there has been controversy over just what should be considered are and what should be conisdered vandalism. Nonetheless, on an expressway along Kanda they have found a way to make it work and are relishing in its beauty.
hola.
im a young artist (28) who traveled to ghana, accra, nima for sum months last year, i´ve painted a lot of stuff i nima on my own and at my own expense, if you read this and have the knowledge of an ongoing projekt like this, please contact me.. i´ve been painting all of my life, most of eu, some of asia and som in africa..
All the best, Niels Bragger, Denmark.
Hi Niels, I recommend you contact Nima Muhinmanchi Art, the local organization behind the painting of this wall mural. You can learn more about what they do, and contact them via their facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/nimaart.gh). Good luck!
Hello! My name is Jo and I am an organizer for an artist collective in San Francisco. I am looking to outreach to arts organizations in Senegal to propose a community mural project to raise awareness on safe birthing practices and the strengths, challenges and needs of its mid-wifery community. Do you have any leads on organizations we can collaborate with to organize this projects? Thank you in advance 🙂
Peace,
jo