For the second time running, the Chalewote Street Art Festival will come off at the Black Star Square, Osu, Accra. The festival creates a safe space for independent artists to curate works on specific theme for the year.
Through murals, photography and performance, the visitors get to interact with the curated works on display.
Apart from the Saturday and Sunday for the live concerts and vending activities, the week’s activities will be inside the Osu Castle Gardens, where independent artworks, film screening and conversations, as well as performances will take place.
Through the festival, patrons can learn another spectrum of the country’s history, dating back centuries; thus, creating a shared bond of history while re-imagining the past into the present for the benefit of the future.
Chale Wote has become a hub for connecting artists here in Ghana to their visiting counterparts from other countries, who continue to share ideas, perspectives and collaborate for the creation of bigger works, as well as the preservation of artistic independence.
The theme for this year is ‘And Now an End to the Empire of Horrors’. The theme seeks to challenge the opaque misconception that the arrival of the colonial forces somewhat opened the eyes of those they already met on the land for civilisation. The story of two Asebu Amenfi and Borketey Laweh, the man credited for the building of what has now become Accra, unmasks that misconception.
In 1478, Edina [ in present-day Central Region of Ghana] became the geostrategic location for the epic Battle of Guinea between the Portuguese Navy and the Castilian Armada that had come to seek military support of the Fanti who were known to be custodians of very ancient knowledge and science passed on from giants who lived among them. All of this was playing out against the backdrop of the Castilian crisis.
The Portuguese Navy would launch a surprise attack and defeat the Castilians in Edina, granting the former hegemony in the Atlantic. This battle paved the way for the empire of horrors; a sadistic colonial conquest of the remaining indigenous civilisations that were left behind. It would be the final catalyst to propel the arrival of the so-called white man as a political identity for squatter colonialists.
Throughout the coast of Guinea, there are countless tales of giants. God-like men who lived among the people and taught them sacred sciences. They too, like us, were mortal, carrying their death inside of them while they built the most fascinating settlements in the realm.
In southern Ghana, there are several distinct accounts of mountain-dwelling God-like beings like Borketey Laweh, who built the ancient coastal city that would later become Accra; and Asebu Amenfi who led the Fanti and gave them knowledge to build their highly advanced cultures.
The giants were betrayed at some point and buried under quacking mud; their existence was subsumed by the Atlantic and almost erased along with the mysteries that created the wonders of that world. It was these mysteries and wealth of the land that drew the Castilians to Edina.
Chale Wote is a production by Accra Dot Alt.
