Art against the Odds: Textile Art in Perspective

Abstract

Historical and cultural odds such as slave trade, human sacrifice, trial by ordeal, widowhood rites and ‘trokosi' system retarded progress in Africa. Formal school education introduced by the colonialists became the preserve for males as a result of negative perception nurtured towards girl-child education in Africa. In Ghana, the artworks of the pioneers in the 1940sand succeeding generations of contemporary artists addressed themselves to promoting the sustainable customs, traditions and constructive evolving cultures as well as denouncing the obnoxious cultural practices in visual narratological format for a positive reorientation. Through narrative inquiry, this article examines the artworks of three sculptors namely Kofi Antubam, B. K. Dogbe and El Anatsui who are categorized as two different generations of contemporary sculptors (with the former as a pioneer and the last two in the current generation) in Ghana's art history; and examines how their visual narratives in sculptural art presentation contribute to the concretization of Ghana's dress styles and aspect of textile art.It concludes that in narrating cultural objections through sculptural art, the works of these sculptors serve as a repository for critical reflections on Ghana's past dress styles and textile art.