Ghana’s Chale Wote Festival honours African creativity through murals, fashion and recycled art
Artists from across Africa are transforming the streets of Accra with murals, recycled fashion, and experimental designs as part of the 15th edition of the Chale Wote Street Art Festival.
Charity Derby Akeiti, the only female muralist at this year’s festival, has been live-painting with Chale Wote for eight years. She told Viory that her mural was inspired by the theme “The Orbs Beneath the Nile Lead to Kongo”, which highlights the vision of African leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Patrice Lumumba.
“This unity is what I'm trying to build up. At the end of the day, we'll have a beautiful Africa for us to live in,” Akeiti said. “This is ‘Gbomo Adesa’, a human being who does not have the external force influencing him or his natural resources being touched.”
The festival also highlights innovation in sustainable fashion, amongst others. Pearl Tetteh, a fashion student, showcased dresses made from plastic bags and broken CDs.
“I want to show everybody that when it comes to the fashion industry, nothing is useless,” she explained.
Other artists explored creative reuse of everyday materials like paper.
Nii Lomotey, a student at the University of Education, Winneba, used discarded exam papers to make sculptural works.
“Contemporary art has given us the power to collect things in the environment to create,” he said, adding, “Some are creating with plastics, some with rubbers, some with leaves. For me, it’s paper.”
The Chale Wote Festival is a week-long celebration of community-focused art.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
