Ghana Freedom

Ghana Pavilion, Biennale di Venezia, 2019

Ghana presented its first National Pavilion at the 58th Venice International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia, from 11 May – 24 November 2019.

The first Ghana Pavilion at the 2019 Biennale Arte took place under the patronage of Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Entitled “Ghana Freedom,” after the song composed by E.T. Mensah on the eve of the independence of the new nation in 1957, the pavilion was curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim and examined the legacies and trajectories of that freedom by six artists, across three generations. Rooted both in Ghanaian culture and its diasporas, the pavilion exhibition included large-scale installations by El Anatsui and Ibrahim Mahama; representation and portraiture by prominent photographer Felicia Abban and painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye; and a three-channel film projection by John Akomfrah and a video sculpture by Selasi Awusi Sosu. Situated in the Artiglierie of the historic Arsenale, the Ghanaian pavilion was designed by Sir David Adjaye.

In addition, the Ghana Pavilion exhibition included a publication with a preface by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; foreword by Honorable Catherine Afeku, and contributions by Sir David Adjaye, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Nana Oforiatta Ayim, Okwui Enwezor, Taiye Selasi, Hakeem Adam, Adjoa Armah, Mae-ling Lokko, Kuukuwa Manful, Larry Ossei-Mensah, and Mavis Tetteh-Ocloo.