Welcome to the 7th edition of the CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival
For the second time in a row, we unveil The Open Gallery, a special collaboration with key arts and cultural institutions in Accra during CHALE WOTE week. This year, we include 15 creative spaces with events and exhibitions that speak in new and exciting ways to WATA MATA, the theme for the 2017 festival.
Step into the flow of all there is to experience during CHALE WOTE this August 14-20th.
The CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival is an independently run, community-based initiative produced by ACCRA [dot] ALT and REDD Kat Pictures in association with more than a dozen organizations across the city. accradotaltradio.com
7th Annual CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival THE OPEN GALLERY AT A GLANCE August 14 – 20, 2017 Accra, Ghana
August 14 Cocktails & Hip Hop Mondays Tea Baa, Osu 1 – 10pm
August 15 Open Surgery with the Aidoo Centre: FICTION Creative Writing Lab with Nii Ayikwei Parkes Ama Ata Aidoo Centre for Creative Writing Hosted at Brazil House, bottom floor *open to 8 selected writers through an open call process 2 – 4:30pm
Dolezalism and Jollof Rice
Lecture/Q+A with April Bey (U.S.) CHALE WOTE feature participant National Theatre, Folkspace 6 – 8pm
Historical Photos + Narratives from Gold Coast to Ghana with a special focus on the life and times of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Exhibition and Talk
Deo Gratias Studio, James Town
3 – 4:30pm
Day of ReMembering: Opening CHALE WOTE 2017 Ceremony ACCRA [dot] ALT Brazil House, James Town 5 – 7pm
August 16 DeVerb
Performance by Elisabeth Efua Sutherland Terra Alta, Abelemkpe Junction
6 – 7pm
Wata BamBam: Game Nite at the Baa
Tea Baa 7pm
August 17 DISPERSED The Black British Female Artist Collective (BBFA) Hosted at Nubuke Foundation Lome Close, East Legon Accra Artist Talk: Is there such a thing as a women’s art perspective or is art just art? 2 – 3pm
Wata Poetry, Wata Song
Tea Baa 7pm
August 18
Roots and Soul
King Solomon Garden Dansoman (behind Keep Fit Club) Wata Mata Graffiti, Film Show and Reggae Night 2 – 11pm
Africa Actualized Thought We Had Something Going(TWHSG)
Creative cultural conversations Hosted at Republic Bar + Grill, Osu 4:30 – 7pm
Chocolate Meets Tea Tea Baa 7:30pm
August 20
Shifting the Center
Album release party for Elizabeth Moreau Kallop ANO Institute of Contemporary Arts 8 – 10pm
The Jam Down
Hang Out after CHALE WOTE 2017 Tea Baa 8pm
August 25
August 19
We Were Queens and Kings
An exhibition and performance by Zohra Opoku ANO Institute of Contemporary Arts 1 Lokko Road, Osu Accra 7:30 – 10pm
The Post-CHALE WOTE Open Gallery Experience
8pm
SMOKE
An Accra House Music event The Neem Grill Mama Adjele Road Off Spintex Road, behind Hypermarket Palace
EXHIBITIONS, EXPERIENCES + TOURS
The Nima Street Art Tours
with Nima Muhinmanchi Art (NMA) M-Thu, 10am-2pm
Mohammed Awudu Gallery Visit + Tour
M-Sun, 11am-5pm
A Celebration of Indigo: Designing Culture Studio One Eighty Nine Osu, Accra August 14 – 20 11am – 7pm
DISPERSED
The Black British Female Artist Collective (BBFA) Nubuke Foundation, East Legon August 16 – 22 10am – 5pm
Orderly Disorderly blaxTARLINES: Dept. of Painting and Sculpture K.N.U.S.T.
Museum of Science and Technology, central Accra Open until September 1st, 2017 M – Sun, 8am – 5pm
James Town Walking Tours ACCRA [dot] ALT Brazil House, James Town M – Sun, 11am – 5pm
NicoWayo Art and Adverts Oxford Street, Osu (near Photo Club) M – Sat, 8:30am – 5pm
Twists, Turns and Broken Doors
An exhibition by Dorothy Amenuke Nubuke Foundation, East Legon Open until September 10, 2017 M-Sat, 10am – 5pm Sun, 12noon – 4pm
OPENING EVENTS August 14 Day of ReMembering Monday, August 14
ACCRA [dot] ALT Brazil House, James Town 5 – 7pm This opening event for the 7th annual CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival highlights the vast history of James Town and its central importance to the making of Accra, Ghana as a nation and the development of the African diaspora across the world. With this opening, we recenter the history of the enslaved, many of who walked through the alleyways of James Town to ships on the shores, propelled into an unknown and torturous fate. We examine the many ways we wade through the waters returning through the Doors in defiant creative manifestation.
Note: We encourage the public to attend and ask that participants in this ceremony wear white in solidarity and recognition of this sacred process.
We explore the trilogy in performance with the Volta Region’s Hutor Adzimashie Bali and the Hu-Koku Association’s piece entitled, “Badboy BODY Electronics” (interpreting the 2015 festival theme: African Electronics). Then we move to the 25-member, all-women performance of “...k3 yei...” by Tifali Cultural Consults (interpreting the 2016 theme: Spirit Robot) and we end with a spoken word exhibition by Aboa K)t)(interpreting the 2017 theme: Wata Mata). Samoa Kpakpo-Mark Hansen (a James Town resident and a CHALE WOTE Logistics Coordinator for the last 5 years) also shares an exciting talk on this year’s theme and its connection to the space, people and cultures of James Town. Following this, we walk together in a ceremony of remembering, a procession from Brazil House to the Oyenyi Gardens of James Fort.
Dolezalism and Jollof Rice
Tuesday, August 15
Lecture/Q+A with April Bey (U.S.) National Theatre, Folkspace 6 – 8pm Rachel Dolezal was president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter in Spokane, Washington, from 2014 until June 15, 2015, when she resigned after it was revealed that she had lied about being African American, many other aspects of her biography, and alleged hate crimes against her. In June 2015, Dolezal came to media attention when her European American parents stated publicly that Dolezal was a white woman passing as Black. Dolezal’s critics contend that she has committed cultural appropriation and fraud; Dolezal and her defenders contend her racial identity is genuine while not based on biology or ancestry. Her deceptions have acted as a catalyst to debating race in the U.S. and the aesthetics we use to determine authority and race. Jollof Magazine is a new series lecturer and artist April Bey has begun which focuses on fictitious magazine covers and movie posters representing the hypocritical and racist tendencies in the U.S. starting with a key figure—Rachel Dolezal.
The Open Gallery August 14 to 20 The Open Gallery returns this year and features a collaboration with 15 key art and cultural institutions across the city during CHALE WOTE Week between August 14 - 20th. Witness visual exhibitions and artist conversations, partake in interactive lectures and workshops and electrifying historical tours, taste the best food and drinks the city has to offer, connect with old friends and create experiences with new friends.
Open Surgery with the Aidoo Centre: Tuesday, August 15 FICTION 2 - 4:30pm Brazil House, bottom floor James Town Accra
This Fiction workshop explores elements of Ghana’s rich and sometimes forgotten heritage and also taps into the unconscious. Working with 8 writers selected through a submissions process, award-winning author and Director of the Aidoo Centre, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, will critique the work in an open forum, using the participant’s work as a platform from which to discuss general principles and elements of better, more effective writing. The workshop will also use some published examples allowing the wider audience to learn from the critique process and ask questions.
Ama Ata Aidoo Centre for Creative Writing @AidooCentre
ANO Institute of Contemporary Arts 1 Lokko Road Osu Accra info@anoghana.org 020 644 3066 @ano_ghana @ANOghana
WEanWERE QUEENS AND KINGS exhibition by Zohra Opoku
curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
Saturday, August 19
7:30 – 10pm
Zohra Opoku interrogates the presence of collective modernities in Ghana through fabrics, symbols, and postures to unravel how they are formed and evolve over time. The installation includes a moving performance from Osu Castle to ANO. Following the performance and exhibition, there will be an after party.
Elizabeth Moreau Kallop: Shifting the Center Album Release Sunday, August 20
8 – 10pm
Elizabeth Moreau Kallop, a Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter of 17 years, releases her first album in Accra. Pursuing her passion for music and its ability to tell stories and process life, Kallop made the bold choice to focus more seriously on music after chancing upon a hotel lobby piano during a recent work trip to Marrakech, Morocco. Seven songs and many stories later, the intimate crowd encouraged her to dedicate more time to her music and to record. Travel, love and self… with this album, Elizabeth shifts the center.
August 16 – 22
10am – 5pm @bbfacollective @bbfcollective Exhibition open @BBFAcollective to the public
The Black British Female Artist Collective (BBFA) DISPERSED Hosted at Nubuke Foundation Lome Close, East Legon Accra
Thursday, August 17 2 – 3pm
Artist Talk: Is there such a thing as a women’s art perspective or is art just art? Panelists: Gyankroma Akufo-Addo (Director, Creative Arts Council Ghana) Odile Tevie (Director, Nubuke Foundation) Dr. Dorothy Amenuke (Artist) Arlene Wandera (BBFA artist) Chair: Adelaide Damoah (BBFA artist)
The first art event of its kind exhibition opens the artists to take place in Ghana and will meet for the first time in partnership with Nubuke to discuss their practice Foundation, DISPERSED and journeys as female facilitates a cross - cultural artists. This conversation exchange between black alongside the exploration women artists. The of the water theme will exhibition brings together 3 inform a collaborative UK female artists from the artwork. The making of Black British Female Artist which takes shape over (BBFA) Collective with 3 the days between their Ghanaian female artists. initial meeting and the The artists will work exhibition opening. together to create a one of a kind artwork especially The participating artists for CHALE WOTE. are: A week before the
Ghanaian artists: Dr. Dorothy Amenuke Latifah Idriss Samira Saidi
BBFA artists: Adelaide Damoah Arlene Wandera Enam Gbewonyo
Deo GratiasHighStudio Street James Town Accra
Monday, August 14
3 – 4:30pm Exhibition and Talk
Historical Photos + Narratives from Gold Coast to Ghana with a special focus on the life and times of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The oldest photography studio in Accra, Deo Gratias Studio, opened in James Town in 1922. Like no other collections, J.K. Bruce Vanderpuije’s photography archives documents in exquisite and varied detail what life was like for Ghanaians during the colonial and Independence periods of the country. This special exhibition and talk with Kate Tamakloe, the Studio owner and granddaughter of Vanderpuije, will share captivating images of the life and leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the Gold Coast transitioned into Ghana and became a beacon for Africans across the continent and world.
blaxTARLINES Dept. of Painting and Sculpture K.N.U.S.T.
James Town Walking Tours
Orderly Disorderly
ACCRA [dot] ALT Brazil House James Town Accra
Museum of Science and Technology
tours@accradotaltradio.com 026 877 7706 James Town Walking Tours
Central Accra
Blaxtarlines Kumasi @blaxtarlines
M – Sun, 11am – 5pm Unlock the fascinating history of James Town, the center of the Ga Mashie. Learn about life from the perspective of everyday people and experience what it’s like to call James Town home firsthand from the people who live here.
M- Sun, 8am – 5pm Open until September 1, 2017 This completes the trilogy of large-scale end-of-year exhibitions held in Accra and features more than 90 works by fresh graduates, alumni, and guest artists (living and dead).
Tours are available for individuals, small and large groups and run for an hour long. Tours also run all year round.
Nicowayo Art and Adverts @nicowayo Nicholas Wayo
Oxford Street, Osu Accra Near Photo Club
M – Sat, 8:30am – 5pm
Nicowayo Art and Adverts is a studio space and gallery run by Nico Wayo, one of Accra’s most prominent self-taught visual artists. During the Open Gallery, Nico Wayo will display work highlighting a range of styles from street signs to handcrafted imaginative movie posters and surrealist paintings from over twenty years of practice.
Orderly Disorderly shares and celebrates the political vision of artist and educator Professor Ablade Glover who mobilized artists toward economic emancipation within a hopeless artistic milieu in the early 1990s when Ghana’s cultural institutions had been famished of domestic and international support. The exhibition invites the audience to deal with the contradictions that are constitutive of their everyday lives.
The Nima Street Art Tours Nima, a majority Muslim working class community, is home to some of the most exciting visual street art in Accra. This is also home to Nima Muhinmanchi Art (NMA, headed by Aminu Larry), Nico Wayo and Mohammed Awudu, some of the most prominent graffiti artists and painters in Ghana. This one-hour walking tour will take visitors through the community to witness more than 6 murals live and up close. Learn more about what it’s like to be a contemporary artist living and working in Nima today.
Mohammed Awudu Gallery Visit + Tour @mohawudu Mohawudu3@gmail.com 024 340 3991 (email or call to book an appointment) Meeting Point: Nima 441, Hot Coffee (near the ATC Roundabout) Mon – Sun, 11am – 5pm
NMA Tours Larry2g12@gmail.com 024 471 2563 (email or call to book an appointment) M – Thu, 10am – 2pm Visit community murals, artist studios, community Chief’s palace, Nima Market, the newly built Central Mosque and the Nima-Maamobi Community Library. 30ghc per person, 15ghc additional for lunch featuring a variety of local dish options.
Nubuke Foundation
Twists, Turns and Broken Doors An exhibition by Dorothy Amenuke
Open until September 10,2017 M – Sat, 10am – 5pm Sunday, 12noon – 4pm Lome Close, East Legon Accra 027 744 5596 nubukefoundation @InfoNubuke Fabric plays such an integral part in the cycle of life in Ghana. From the first public ceremony of the ‘outdooring’ of a 7-day old baby, traditionally hand woven textiles and stamped wax prints inscribed with meaning mark significant stages in a life’s journey. Dorothy Amenuke’s use of fabric and material in her sculpture work brings them into 3-dimensional planes staging situations and associations whilst inviting viewers or participants to engage with pertinent social issues in our society today. Dorothy’s current body of work deals largely with freedoms experienced within societal boundaries or borders. Not limited to physical limitations, Dorothy’s premier solo exhibition at Nubuke explores ways to deal with issues that bring about exclusions and notions of ‘otherness’ in society.
Thought We Had Something Going (TWHSG)
Creative cultural conversations Hosted at Republic Bar + Grill, Osu 4:30 – 7pm
Africa Actualized
Friday, August 18
Join TWHSG, a South Africa-based collective culture of young minds, rethinking African youth culture. Trying to create an original African creative imagination. They will build conversation, calling on all African provocateurs to question Africa’s current cultural/creative capital. Let’s change the conversation, change everything.
Roots and Soul King Solomon Garden, Jerry Hansen Street Dansoman, Accra (behind Keep Fit Club) 054 078 3009, 024 712 3162 rootsandsoul
M – Sun, 5 – 11pm
Roots and Soul is one of a few vegan restaurants available in the greater Accra region. We also host film screenings, open mics, discussions, listening sessions and concerts. Our restaurant serves fresh juice, smoothies, beer, tea and a delicious variety of snacks, plant life meals and hot dishes.
Friday, August 18 2 – 11pm 2 – 5pm: Wata Mata Graffiti Session featuring artists from the festival 5 – 8pm: Film Screenings: Open to interested filmmakers 8 – 11pm: Reggae Night hosted by musician Oga Chux
Studio One Eighty Nine 12th Lane, Osu Accra 020 305 1793 info@studio189.org @studiooneeightynine magazine.studiooneeightynine.com
A Celebration of Indigo: Designing Culture August 14 – 20
11am – 7pm
Indigo dyed cloth has been in existence for more than 1,500 years and dates back to Egypt, Peru, East Asia, India, Africa and enslaved Africans in the Caribbean. We celebrate indigo because of its spiritual and healing powers. It recalls water coming from the earth and returning to the earth. Natural indigo is a gift of nature and holds with it the past and tradition. Through the art works we create we seek to preserve it and the nature guardians /artisans that are protecting this plant in places like the north of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. The indigo exhibition draws connection with the importance of water and takes us on a journey from the plant through to final works of art. Guests will be invited to see art that weaves yarn into fabric and objects and explores the relationship with culture specifically the role African indigo has played in the development of denim culture…an aspect that is often times omitted in the history of denim as an art form and as a cultural signifier.
Indigo Fashion Art Installation / Dyeing workshops / Curated Pop Up / Cocktails Jeans have been an important part of modern culture for the past 140 years. Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss have been credited for inventing jeans in 1873. They were first work clothes, then became symbols of anti-establishment an eventually became a coveted fashion item and symbol of establishment. Originally jeans were dyed with natural indigo and now they are mostly dyed with synthetic indigo except in Japan where some premium jeans still use natural indigo.
Tea Baa 10-12 Klanaa Street Ako Adjei, Osu Accra 050 104 3642, 020 912 7305 (WhatsApp) @Teabaagh @Teabaagh Tea Baa Gh
Monday, August 14, 1 - 10pm
Cocktails & Hip Hop Mondays Strictly Hip Hop, burgers and cocktails at Tea Baa. A place to be for Hip Hop heads and lovers.
Wednesday, August 16, 7pm Wata BamBam Game Nite at the Baa
Join us for a fun night of games like Ludo, Oware, Snakes and Ladders, Scrabble, Jenga, Taboo, Connect Four and Dominoes. This is a good time to meet and mingle with new people, enjoy great cocktails and good food. Lots of fun prizes on deck.
Thursday, August 17, 7pm Wata Poetry, Wata Song Poet and artist, Hondred Percent, gets together with friends to celebrate the evolution of poetry in Ghana.
Friday, August 18, 7:30pm Chocolate Meets Tea
Join Tea Baa and 57 chocolates for an evening of tasting delicious Ghana Made chocolates and Teas (non-alchoholic and Tipsy). Tickets are available at Tea Baa or slide into our DM for more info.
Sunday, August 20, 7pm The Jam Down
The CHALE WOTE 2017 after party begins here at Tea Baa. DJ Sessions digs deep into the old school to uncover the covers. Back to back sounds of old and new skool. If you love music, you’ll love this event. Great food, music and Iced Teas will be on deck as usual.
Post-CHALE WOTE Open Gallery Experience The Neem Grill Mama Adjele Rd
Off Spintex Road, behind Hypermarket Palace 020 050 9320 @theneemgrill @AccraHouseMusic
Friday, August 25, 8pm
Terra Alta Abelemkpe Junction, Next to Lucas College 024 500 6185 @terraltagh @efuasutherland terraltagh@gmail.com
Deverb
Wednesday, August 16, 6 – 7pm This work in progress presentation by artist Elisabeth Efua Sutherland follows her residency at the Villa Empain in Brussels, Belgium. Deverb is a sound and video experiment using women’s song traditions of Fanti culture as a sonic base to explore the role and importance of woman as griot in Akan society. Note: Terra Alta is a non-smoking outdoor facility.
SMOKE ACCRA HOUSE MUSIC – headed by JasonKLEATSH and Steloolive - kicks off their Fall/Autumn/End of Rainy Season Residency at The Neem Grill with a SPECIAL ART & SOUND themed event titled SMOKE & FUNK. SMOKE is, and has always been an element in creating the mood for House/Techno/Electronic music moods ... especially very intimate special vibes... be it smoke machines, cigarette smoke, or natural mist. In other words, Smoke has always been a part of the “FUNK”.We’ll celebrate this relation via imagery, mood setting and sound.
#CHALEWOTE2017 #WATAMATA @accradotaltradio, chalewoteofficial @accradotalt, chalewotefest accradotaltradio.com
WATA MATA Flows: August 17 - 20 The LABS @ CHALE WOTE 2017 Thursday, August 17 @ Terra Alta Friday, August 18 @ WEB DuBois Centre 12noon - 9pm The LABS is a 2-day mix of artist talks, film screenings, special workshops, DJ mixers and performances. This event explores the festival theme – WATA MATA – in depth with intimate conversations and connections with artists participating in CHALE WOTE 2017 who share with audiences about their creative process, projects and collaborations.
CHALE WOTE 2017 in James Town
Saturday, August 19 Sunday, August 20
1 - 10pm
Graphic Designer: Rhesa Adjoa-Boatemaa Anokye Images by Nii Nikoi Kotei at CHALE WOTE 2016
200+ Ghana-based and international artists 10 locations to witness visual arts exhibitions + installations 4 music and performance stages Accra Cookout - 30 vendors in delicious food and drinks Oblatsoobi Market - handmade fashion, design and crafts WATA MATA Fashion Circus featuring 15 designers Live historical tours of James Town Extreme Sports Stunt Park AND SO MUCH MORE