Adjei Tawiah
b. 1987, Ghana
In his new body of work, Adjei Tawiah offers a celebration of camaraderie, friendship, family and major public figures, both living and deceased, during a moment when human kinship is needed more than ever. Tawiah resurrects the spirit of people, things and events that have since past and imbues them with new life—with a loving and immortal presence. Depicted regularly by Tawiah, his friends are also practicing artists who are currently studying fine art at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Tawiah captures them on Accra’s famed Labadi beach strolling hand clasped in hand dressed in fashionable attire once worn by his grandfather.
On the inclusion of floral elements, the artist explains, “These are flowers that I saw when my mother’s body was being put into her grave,” he explains. “They are flowers people threw at her form as it was being lowered into the ground as a sign of respect. I remember all of the flowers I saw on the graves at the cemetery.” A rich use of flowers in these new works thus refer to the joy of living, the beauty of the natural world and commemoration for those no longer with us.