Bentsifi’s Tattle…Guy About Town
Bentsifi’s Tattle…Guy About Town
The new Haven in Oguaa
Oguaa. Cape Haven
Here, come closer. Let me tell you something not many people know.
There’s a new address in Cape Coast worth remembering if ever you find yourself in Oguaa and need somewhere to lay your head. It is a little haven tucked into one of those old neighbourhoods where life is still happening around you.
From the outside, in fact, this Old Guy would say the locale is rural, a bit of an eyesore. You’ll wonder where you are being taken, up the rugged road leading to its building. But funny how these things go.
I have slept in some rather posh accommodations in rather posh neighbourhoods around the world, and somehow they have not always given me the feeling I am getting sitting here.
Perhaps it is the old building, or even the neighbourhood, or simply the love that has gone into bringing the house back to life. The landlady owns it! You can tell the old place means something to her, from how meticulous she’s been about its transformation, preserving what is worth keeping while introducing just enough contemporary polish.
The result is a charming aura. It is old school meets modern, with clean white walls softened by beautiful objects and some framed artefacts. Nothing screams for attention, and the lobby leaves you wondering whether you are in a boutique hotel or somebody’s very tasteful living room.
Then there is the bathroom. Ah! My special place. It deserves a mention. The marble tiling gives it an understated elegance that may have you contemplating an extended stay simply because you have become emotionally attached to the bathroom.
What I like most is that nothing here seems to be trying too hard. The old house has been given another lease without having its character scrubbed away.
And that, my friends, is the funny thing about a good restoration: sometimes the cleverest thing you can do is know what not to change.
And, before it is actually commissioned, the word has gone around, and you just may be sleeping in the same bed used by Shatta Wale and Ben Brako once, recently. They’ve all already been hosted here.
Oh, you want the address. It’s called Cape Haven Heritage, at ‘Aquarium’. Apparently, named for the lake that lies in the vicinity. Trust Cape Coasters to so anglicise everything, even their neighbourhoods!
I’m here in Oguaa to support my charity of choice, Little Angels Trust, which organised a walk in support of Cancer Awareness Month. I just pulled up a chair to slump into after convincing myself that my footwork is still on point! This brass band didn’t let up, and it has been jolly doing a merry jig. And these schoolchildren on the march, bless them. They showed up and gave the event such cheer!
Hair Style Politics
No, not quite as fashionably today, but I arrived rather late for the closing ceremony of “Hair Style Politics” – an exhibition that took place at this newish gallery I’m just discovering, Annobil Contemporary Gallery, at Ajiriganor, last Saturday. The show was already done, most people gone, leaving a few hardy souls in the courtyard café, chatting.
I had come because my long-time friend, bead designer Kati Torda Dagadu, had invited me. Kati was exhibiting her handcrafted necklaces and bangles, and I confess to being a diehard fan. There are times when I am less a customer than a walking billboard. I wear her work shamelessly, and her jewellery has travelled around my neck, wrists and other parts until it has become part of my life.
The exhibition brought together paintings, jewellery, fashion and objects by four women artists, each exploring hair, identity and adornment from a different direction. It was one of those shows where you arrive intending merely to look and leave having varying thoughts.
Helen Annobil’s work was new to me and rather moved me. It brought Atukwei Clottey to mind, although Helen replaces his earthy palette with bold, beautiful pastels. I also enjoyed the contrast between the paintings and their maker: the work is vibrant, large and flamboyant, while Helen herself is remarkably quiet and understated. Perhaps we are all more complicated than the things we make.
Margaret Luttman brought another visual language, shaped by her travels and encounters across Africa. Her paintings of African hairstyles reminded me of those wonderfully rudimentary roadside portraits outside barber shops, except Margaret has taken that familiar idea and given it considerably more sophistication.
Margaret
Then there was Gill Quarcoopome of Sole Inspiration, whose work I have long admired. I discovered that she is, in fact, an A-class leathersmith, a title she apparently had not claimed for herself until other people pointed it out.
I own one of her extraordinary belts, decorated with brass and beads, which I wear as a sash because, frankly, why should a belt be confined to the waist? It travels with me, although this occasionally turns hand luggage into an engineering project at customs. The consolation is that once the bag is opened, customs officers sometimes become unexpectedly interested in art from Ghana.
I rather enjoy that conversation. It is certainly more interesting than whatever else they might have been expecting to find.
Perhaps that is what I liked most about “Hair Style Politics.” It reminded me that adornment is never merely decoration. Hair, beads, leather, colour and clothing carry memory, identity and attitude. And if my rather excessive belt collection can occasionally introduce a customs officer to Ghanaian art, then perhaps I am performing a small public service after all.
Except, like all the others, Gill is also European. But, having lived in Ghana so long, she has more Ghana in her – as have Kati and Helen, having all married Ghanaian men – than many. Only Margaret was visiting.
Kati, Helen & Gill
Discovering Afrotoons
Something rather exciting is brewing in African animation, and this Old Guy is liking it.
Imagine an African child watching a cartoon and suddenly seeing themselves on screen, not Africa filtered through somebody else’s imagination, but their own faces, names, clothes, houses, food, landscapes and humour.
That is the territory Esther Ohrt Paul has entered with Afrotoons and her Selase’s Adventures. Growing up in Ghana and later studying in the United States, Esther noticed how difficult it was to find the Africa she knew reflected on screen. When she became a mother, the question became even more personal: what would her child grow up watching? So she built what she could not find.
Esther Ohrt Paul: Afrotoons
Selase’s Adventures follows a young African girl travelling across the continent, discovering its people, traditions and landscapes. Most importantly, it refuses to treat “Africa” as one enormous village with one story. There are many Africas, and children deserve to see that variety.
What I particularly like is how modestly the project began. There was no grand studio machine or roomful of executives nodding gravely over spreadsheets. It started with a 30-second video released on Africa Day, followed by a crowdfunding campaign that attracted 200 people from 15 countries who essentially said, “Yes. We want this too.” That is rather lovely.
Animation is not merely about cartoons; it is about imagination, and imagination is where identity quietly begins. When a child sees someone who looks like them at the centre of a story, their world suddenly becomes worthy of being imagined.
For generations, much of the world’s imagery of Africa has been created elsewhere. Afrotoons is helping to change that, one story at a time, by asking a wonderfully simple question: What if the screen looked a little more like the Africa we actually know?
And perhaps that is where the real adventure begins: when a child watching Selase decides that their own world is interesting enough to become a story. Once children start imagining themselves at the centre of things, you had better pay attention. Something usually follows.
Dinner en Blanc turns Accra white again
Oh, dates for Dinner en Blanc Accra have been announced. December 28. It is Accra at play, and the city will go white again.
So find your finest white. Gather your people. Bring your appetite, your good humour and your willingness to be surprised. The destination remains secret. The evening, however, promises to be anything but.
Stay tuned.
