The Adventurers in The Diaspora to explore connecting roots within the Diaspora, July 26

The Adventurers in The Diaspora (AiD) and Golden Tulip Hotel Accra will hold the sixth event its series this year at the Golden Tulip Hotel Branch Lounge on Thursday July 26, 2012. The month’s topic is “Connecting ROOTS within the Diaspora: The Secrets under the Skin”, on the anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban revolution in 1953. The topic explores interpretations in the connections between Ghanaian and Cuban artistic cultural heritage. Artistic ideas are informed by traditions that have been passed hand to hand over centuries and even millennia. Artists are the guardians of these traditions because they hold them in their hands and bodies, practice them, and keep them alive. For this month’s AiD, we are hosting the international exhibition Secrets Under the Skin which is a contemporary, multi-disciplinary and collaborative art installation, comprised of video, photographs, dance, narrative and visual art, which delineates the trail of ideas and cultural forms as they have transmigrated across geography and time. The exhibition is the result of over 30 years of artistic investigation and research spanning Ghana, Togo and Benin West Africa across to the Matanzas province of Cuba and explores the connections of the Ewe peoples of West Africa to those of the Arará peoples, descendants of the Ewe, living in Cuba as a result of the slave trade. The art installation focuses on traditional religious dances, music and practices and shared artistic roots in four specific communities: Dzodze, Ghana, Adjodogou, Togo, and Perico and Agramonte, Cuba. — excerpt taken from the project website. A presentation and discussion will highlight the process involved in the creation of the art installation by project director Dr. Jill Flanders Crosby. Select reproductions of original artwork from the installation will be presented including visual art, photographic assemblages and performance-based videos. A panel from the diaspora cultural and historical industry will be led by moderator Nana Sekyiamah. Panelists include Ama de-Graft Aikins, a professor in Anthropology at University of Ghana Legon. Other panelists include a prominent dancer and a representative from the Cuban Embassy in Accra Ghana. After the discussions we will have a Cuban inspired jam session featuring Ebo Taylor and Irene.]]>