In Pictures

Gallery|Arts and Culture

Art festival electrifies Ghana’s streets

Accra’s 5th annual Chale Wote Street Art Festival gives local artists the chance to showcase their talents.

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Over 10,000 people descended upon the streets of Jamestown neighbourhood for the Chale Wote Street Art Festival, more than in any in the previous 4 years of the festival. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
By Oualid Khelifi
Published On 28 Aug 2015

Accra, Ghana – The Chale Wote Street Art Festival was born in a spirit of recapturing the freedom and essence of African art in a post-colonial environment.

Functioning independently of state control, the non-profit festival is free to the public and open to anyone who wants to participate.

More than 10,000 people went down to Jamestown neighbourhood that hosted the event to see interactive performances, visual installations, theatre parades, live mural paintings, musical performances, conceptual fashion and expos of the 5th annual street art festival. 

Accra[dot]Alt, a Ghana-based production company founded in 2010, organised the festival with this year’s theme “African Electronics”.

The festival hosted more than 200 locally and internationally based visual artists, poets, film-makers, vendors, photographers, musicians, and performance artists – each with their own diverse interpretations of the festival’s vision.

Oualid Khelifi is a documentary photographer and a multimedia journalist focused on African storytelling. He is the co-founder of Afreekyama Collective.

Follow him on Instagram.

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Faustina Ayambire and Safo Kutorwu completed their mural during the festival so the audience could witness the process. The artwork features ancestral designs from Ayambire's native village where birds represent human relationships, lizards represent friendship, and cows represent wealth. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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'Dignity and respect means using three colours only: black, white and red. They are all found in raw earth material in my rural region, nothing synthetic. To me, it is African know-how and technology, it is African Electronics,' explained artist Faustina Ayambire. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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'African Electronics' was the theme of this year's festival. The event was popular on social networking sites and the hashtag #ChaleWote2015 was posted on Instagram more than 4,000 times by the closing night.[Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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The mural entitled 'Million Man Riot' by artist Bright Tetteh Ackwerh conceptualises a riot by various personae who have led or influenced the discourse on African identity in today's world. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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A Ghanaian dance troupe performed contemporary choreography to the sound of popular Ghanaian and West African pop music hits. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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A young member of Flat Land Boys, an Accra-based BMX crew founded by acclaimed stunt performer Martin Kwaku Abrokwah, showcased his skills. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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'We let the outfit do the talking,' said Ghanaian fashion designer Enkasa Apparel (middle) about the showcase parade he staged with his models. The alternative suit-maker believes that fashion in Africa should be rooted in the inherited touch and design 'so that it is more telling of who we are … of our personalities as Africans'. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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Members of Accra-based AfroDistrict collective pose at a vintage performance stall conceived as an installation space to display old-fashioned elements. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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The derelict colonial building in Jamestown neighbourhood has been used to showcase African-themed murals for years. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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Member of GoLokal performance collective participated in the 'Gods Must Be Crazy' procession. It is led by Serge Attukwei Clottey, an Accra-based Ghanaian visual artist and founder of GoLokal. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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According to Mantse Aryeequaye, Ghanian producer and festival's co-director/co-founder, the idea behind the event is to have the Jamestown population, not only as a proud host, but also as a major stakeholder in the success of the festival and the future of socially-engaged street art in Ghana. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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The words chale wotes are a phrase in Ghanaian, meaning flip-flops worn by the common people. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]
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The installation 'The March' constitutes a series of interactive flags featuring portraits of artists on large-scale prints, by American artist Kenturah Davis who is based in Accra and Los Angeles. [Oualid Khelifi/Al Jazeera]