Art & Culture

Records revisits Ghana’s golden era of rhythm and reinvention with Ghana Special: Highlife, a new single-LP edition that distills the electric fusion of highlife, soul, and psychedelia that defined the country’s sound for almost a decade from 1967 to 1976. 

In the work of Serge Attukwei Clottey, Ghana’s artistic landscape finds one of its most vital and globally resonant voices. His yellow plastic tapestries, stitched from discarded gallon containers, speak not only to environmental urgency but also to the deep cultural and material entanglements that shape modern Ghana.

Through her project Wollo and the digital community, Ghanaian copywriter and illustrator Aku Addy is transforming social listening into civic storytelling, one conversation, one illustration and one neighbourhood at a time.

As Gallery 1957 continues to define Ghana’s place on the global contemporary art stage, its latest exhibition brings together strikingly distinct voices: painter Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe and multidisciplinary artist Denyse Gawu-Mensah. Exhibited alongside Serge Attukwei Clottey (see page 52), their work deepens the conversation around identity, heritage and the evolving power of Ghanaian creativity. 

Once overlooked by collectors, Asante goldweights are now recognised as some of West Africa’s most distinctive artistic creations – miniature brass masterpieces that tell the story of power, trade and ingenuity. All images from African Goldweights.

Christiansborg Castle in Osu was once closed to all but governors and heads of state. Today, it’s a public museum, a place where Ghana’s complex past, from the slave trade to independence, unfolds within its weathered white walls.

Soundway’s new compilation, Ghana Special Vol. 2, captures the electric moment when drum machines, diaspora, and postcolonial optimism collided, and remade Ghanaian music forever. Daniel Neilson speaks to co-curator Jeremy Spellacey.