Bright Ackwerh: My art and I
I call those responses and are indicators that the people who I send messages to receive them and are somewhat shaped by my enquiry. The most interesting one for me was early this year. The Chinese diplomatic community in Ghana wrote a strong-worded letter to the Ghanaian presidency and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources crying foul over some media reportage. One of my paintings commented on what is a very curious and disturbing trend of Chinese nationals in Ghana engaging in a lot of illegal activities which have destroyed almost all the rivers and cocoa farm lands in Ghana. One has even been charged with murdering a young Ghanaian man who went to him to demand pay for services rendered.
What gives you the drive to want to do the next satirical piece?
The knowledge that I am contributing actively to shaping people’s perceptions now and contributing to later history. Also that I am sharing my mind with the next person through a language as open as art. I believe through mine and other artists’ questions, answers would be provided and our experience of the world will be changed for the better.
What’s your favourite work material?
I love painting with acrylic and also on my Wacom graphics tablet with Adobe Photoshop. I am also excited about making drawings on a new Samsung Note 8. I think these new technologies have come to extend what materiality in painting has meant over the years.
How well would you say
African artists have been able to merge their creations with business?
African artists have always done well with doing art business. I however believe different artists have different goals for their practice and even in the field of selling or collecting art, studying the patterns of the important auction houses will show you artists of African descent are not performing badly as compared to their other peers. Soon we also hope to enter into these spaces and do our part actively.
What next from here?
My preoccupation now is with preparing work for exhibitions and also trying to get my work into artist’s workshop and residencies. I am open to the growth these experiences will have for my art. I live to learn.