Nana Danso Awuah-Asante: The Eye Witness, Contemporary Art in Africa

Change Africa Podcast

Nana Danso Awuah-Asante is a self-taught Ghanaian contemporary artist whose work explores African visual symbolism, through the interpretation of a stream of characters onlooking at the reality of the world. He describes his work as a reflection, perception, and critique of the human psyche in its complexities and possibilities.

Nana’s journey began as both a hobby and a mental escape. His initial ambition was to be a pilot, but when he rested that dream, he pursued music. While he enjoyed the creative process of musical production and songwriting, he never considered it as career path. It was in art that he found permanence.

Nana reveals the experimental genesis of the signature of his art, The Eye Witness, a cast of characters and motifs that symbolize an African observance of the passage of time, and the writing of history, one that is already happening.

We explore Nana’s lack of process as a process, and how the essence of his art is revealed to him only after it is done. As a self-taught artist he learns by doing, and encompasses his mistakes and experiences as a mass of

He talks about the representation of African spiritually in his art as his contribution to a dying religion and mysticism that he views as part of the African identity. He credits his mother for this spiritual.

We discuss his introduction to the Ghanaian art scene, his influences and inspiration, some of his earlier favorite works and exhibitions, and his thoughts on the future of Africa in Africa.

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