Tamale in the northern part of Ghana is not a small place but it’s development is still a gradual one compared to the capital city, Accra. I was excited when they decided to inaugurate an art center in the city of Tamale. People like me appreciate the creative works of artist. This studio is actually located in a small community in Tamale called Janachang. A 30 minutes ride from Tamale.
The red clay studio is the personal studio of the Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. His art is focused on the hardships , labor and struggles of people. Ibrahim Mahama lives in the United states now. Most of his art made him popular and took him to places around the world.
This part is called the medical stretches . Medical stretches from world war, the soldiers who were wounded, were carried on these stretches, you can see from the pictures bloods from the wounds. You can actually tell the struggle and suffering they went through on these stretches.
This part is for the people who are known as “kayayoo”. In Ghana these people carry luggage of people for money. They carry heavy loads of people in the market just to survive on them and feed their families as well. They are mostly in the south, a few migrated recently in the north. “Kaya” is a hausa word meaning “loads”.
You can see from the picture that, “Maria Fuseini Awabu “ is written on the arm of a kayayo. That’s how they were identified in the 90’s where they didn’t even have birth certificates since they were delivered in the house by old women. The main idea of Ibrahim Mahama’s sketch is to make them feel appreciated.
Next we moved to the archives room where they keep blueprints of the projects incase the government loose the original ones. Maybe incase a new government comes and is interested in these projects, the blueprints can be obtained here from the artist.
Blueprints
Moving forward, here they call it “Parliament of Ghosts” . For the artist in this place, past, present and future are in conversation . They believe that as humans have a place where they have their meetings, parties and showcases. This is also a place made for the ghost. I know right, so iconic.
Came across this crocodile skin. That is the chest part of the crocodile.
These are the oldest fungus for over 100 years. Fungus is the local name for Smocks in Ghana here. Some of these fungus were worn by chiefs and elders.
The airplanes have been turned to classrooms for Junior High School students age ranging from 13 to 15. They are five in number. They are taught only on Tuesdays for Information Communication Technology (I.C.T) studies.
Two of the airplane were from the kotoka international airport in Accra and one was from the Tamale airport. Transporting them were by land. I can’t even imagine how many days it took to arrive here in Tamale of a 24 hour drive.
Airplanes
The place is actually free, he mentioned, “it’s for the community, it’s for the world “ . The tour guide left us to take pictures beside the airplanes.
From there we were starving so we went to get lunch at Oasis restaurant and bar. We had noodles and beef.
I actually enjoyed the tour. It’s very educative and interesting. Although it was a short visit, it was truly a quality over quantity situation.
