Adventures in Accra ("ah-KRAH")

Sorry for the delay in posting... We arrived Thursday night and have been slowly but surely figuring things out and navigating the city. It has been interesting to see Accra, Ghana's capital and largest city. In some ways, Accra seems like it could be a big city in any developing nation--lots of street vendors (except you should see how much these women can carry on their heads! Will try to include a pic later...it's impressive to say the least!), fairly inefficient systems (had to return to airport yesterday to pay for a flight. Long story short, it took 3+ hours and we still almost didn't get it done!), some questionable transportation options, and many many winding roads with no names to be found. It's certainly not the easiest of cities to navigate, but we are finding our way and learning as quickly as we can.

Today was a particularly exciting day, as I made some great progress towards my goal of deepening my knowledge of Ghanaian art. Today, I had the opportunity to meet with Ablade Glover, a prominent and well-respected Ghanaian painter and retired university professor (see photos of us below, along with a few examples of his paintings). He provided insight into Ghanaian fine art, well beyond the traditional arts that Americans tend to think of when thinking of African art. Professor Glover now runs The Artists Alliance Gallery, one of the few fine art galleries in the country. He opened the gallery with the vision of bringing contemporary African art into the international art scene. The painting styles were quite varied, and it opened my eyes to some incredibly talented Ghanaian artists. It's hard to believe so little is known of most of them outside of Ghana. I was able to purchase several catalogues of art from past exhibits so I can share these wonderful artists with my Suder students and friends. I also had a chance to visit the Loom Gallery, the country's oldest art gallery (opened about 45 years ago) and talk with the gallery's founder, Frances. She's an absolutely lovely woman who was a wealth of knowledge about West African art in general.

More later, but now it's time to sleep! We will be getting up early to catch the bus to Cape Coast (...although there is no published schedule that we can find, so wish us luck!)