Special Issue of African Arts on BLAXTARLINES

Special Issue of African Arts on BLAXTARLINES

Edited by Ruth Simbao and Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu

Volume 54(2), Summer 2021, MIT Press

A quiet revolution has steadily been rising in Kumasi, Ghana. The fluid, experimental network known as blaxTARLINES is a mutable and transgenerational community of artists, curators and writers that is based in, but extends beyond, the Department of Painting and Sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This special issue on blaxTARLINES, edited by Ruth Simbao and Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro), brings together five articles authored by twenty blaxTARLINES affiliates who, in their own words, trace the rise of the creative and intellectual network that was sparked by the work of kąrî’kạchä seid'ou, affectionately known as the godfather of this revolution.

This special issue on blaxTARLINES grew out of the PROSPA Publishing Workshop at Rhodes University, South Africa in November 2018. The workshop was hosted by the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme and the NRF/DSI SARChI programme in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa.

A limited number of hard copies are available for university libraries or art institutions in Africa. Please contact Perpetua Chinomona (p.chinomona@ru.ac.za) at Rhodes University to request a copy. Please note that these copies are for public institutions and not individuals.

Front cover image by Ibrahim Mahama

CONTENTS:

A Quiet Revolution in Arts Education: The Rise of blaxTARLINES Kumasi

Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu and Ruth Simbao

Talking, Stuttering, Speaking Whilst Listening Intently for a Promise of Egalitarian Regeneration: A Five-Way Conversation

Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Ibrahim Mahama, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson, kąrî’kạchä seid’ou

Transforming Art from Commodity to Gift: kąrî’kạchä seid’ou’s Silent Revolution in the Kumasi College of Art

Edwin Bodjawah, Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro), George Ampratwum (Buma), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Dorothy Amenuke, Michael Adashie, Ibrahim Mahama, Adjo Kisser, Billie McTernan, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Kezia Owusu-Ankomah, Selom Kujie, Robin Riskin, Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson.

Exposing Something to Someone While Exposing Someone to Something: blaxTARLINES Exhibition Cultures There-Then-And-Hereafter

kąrî’kạchä seid'ou, George Ampratwum (Buma), Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro), Edwin Bodjawah, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, Robin Riskin, Patrick Nii Okantah Ankrah, Mavis Tetteh-Ocloo, Selorm Kudjie, Adjo Kisser, Kezia Owusu-Ankomah, Frank Gyabeng, Michael Adashie, Kelvin Haizel.

On Stage-Crafting and State-Crafting Beyond Crisis: Ibrahim Mahama's Word and Deed

kąrî’kạchä seid'ou

Back-and-Forth: Cutting Our Coats According to Some Cloths and Other Smaller Things …

Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, Bernard Akoi-Jackson

For more information see: https://direct.mit.edu/afar/issue/54/2