News
Introducing our 2022/2023 Annual Noldor Residency and Fellowship Programme Recipients!
We are so proud to announce our Annual Noldor Residency and Fellowship Programme Recipients for 2022/2023!!
Our team is pleased to host artists from all over the world as we work to continue to support and nurture artists from the African continent and the Diaspora.
Spotlight
Donor Announcement: Rev. Dr. Roderick Belin
At Noldor, we remain deeply grateful for the rooted support within our growing global Donor Community. As such, we are proud to announce the naming of ‘The Belin Wing’. Eponymously acknowledging Dr. Roderick Belin who stands as the institution’s first African-American donor.
Roderick is not only a seasoned art collector but the President of the newly-built AME Publishing House in Nashville. He remains uniquely passionate about the demarginalization and active inclusion of emerging African contemporary artists within the diaspora and the continent.
We salute him for his unwavering commitment to our institution’s vision in the service of practitioners and for making the journey to visit us in Ghana this year!
In-Studio Series: Joshua Oheneba-Takyi
Joshua Oheneba-Takyi [b.1997] is an Accra – based artist, who focuses on the interaction between the human experience with objects – specially chairs. He invites the viewer to reimagine the object as he remains fascinated by what memories; emotions convey from this ubiquitous piece of furniture.
With a distinct painterly practice and profoundly intricate use of colour – he explores the chronology of the chair’s significance and use throughout history juxtaposed to present reality .
Ride through his experience at Noldor in the video…
In-Studio Series: Mimi Adu-Serwaah
Welcome to the Institute of Museum of Ghana! As the country’s first contemporary art museum, we are happy to welcome you to this virtual space.
Our “In-Studio Series” will focus on the liver experience of Fellows and Artists-In-Residence at the Noldor Residency.
Our first studio visit is to our 2021 Visiting Fellow, Mimi Adu-Serwaah. Mimi [b. 1994] is an Accra-based artist whose paintings join artistic abstraction, largely celebrating womanhood and sisterhood with an extent of realism in illustrations of figure paintings and portraiture, employing galaxy-like kaleidoscopic colors. This style and theme reflect her unique perspective and connection with the concept of faith, support systems and the imperfection of human nature.
Stories of YOUNG Travels: Joseph Awuah-Darko
Our Director, Joseph Awuah-Darko gives insight into the institution’s evolving role within Ghana’s contemporary art landscape and the passion with which he works to support emerging artists in the discussion hosted by Ashlee Janelle Danso, the founder of Stories of YOUNG.
Spotlight
Donor Announcement: Mr & Mrs Kotzubei
Thrilled to announce that we have honoured one of the institution’s first major donors, Mr. Jacob and Deborah Kotzubei! For their immense contribution in supporting the meaningful artist-led work Noldor has pioneered within Ghana’s cultural ecosystem, we are pleased to reveal the newly named “Kotzubei Senior Fellow Studio”.
They have been following the residency’s development since inception and, in becoming donors to the residency, Deborah and Jacob cited that their support reflects the profound appreciation and respect they have for our institutions’ leadership, artists, fellows, and mission. Thank you for believing in us and welcome to the Noldor Family!
Spotlight
Annual Letter from the Director
Release Date: January 31, 2021
The theme of my address this year is simply – collateral beauty.
I think we can all agree that this past year (2020) has been one of palpable loss, hardship and ubiquitous adversity in all its forms, largely subject to the rapid intrusion of the Covid-19 pandemic on our lives – causing over 2 million deaths to date. Having survived my battle with the virus myself during lockdown in London, I have gained a renewed sense of appreciation for the fragility of life, the invaluable nature of time and the significance of art as refuge.
But in the same breath in which we acknowledge the gravitas of the difficulties created by the pandemic, we are also encouraged to look at the collateral beauty of moments that served as silver linings within our dark clouds. Beautiful opportunities to connect and feel closeness despite enforced distance, beautiful moments for artists to create in the defacto solitude fashioned by lockdowns, and the beauty of building a community in the midst of global destruction to shine a light on true potential.
Spotlight
Gideon Appah interviews Emmanuel Taku – Noldor Fellow
Like Emmanuel Taku, Gideon Appah also lives and works in Accra, Ghana. Gideon also engages a mixed median approach as a practitioner, who like his mentee Taku, also draws from personal lived experiences of life in Accra and people beyond it.
With a First Merit Award by Barclays L’Atelier in 2015 ( making a record as the first foreign artist to qualify in the award’s history), and an alumnus of Bachelor of Arts Degree at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, he truly has grown to become a seasoned mid-career force to reckon with. After a successful solo exhibition with Mitchell-Innes & Nash in New York (“Blue Boy Blues”) in November of 2020, Gideon has continued to remain in Ghana during the aftermath of the pandemic lockdown. As a Noldor Fellow and passionate practitioner, Appah was more than happy to advise and serve as a mentor to Taku during the course of his tenure at the Noldor Artist Residency. The zenith of this budding professional relationship and sense of comradery comes to this interview in which Taku’s process and novel body of work in large format are expressed. Click on the link below to read more.
