Art as Activism: Emmanuels Bold Response to Ghana’s Textile Waste Crisis and the Lingering Shadows of Colonialism
Interviewed and written by Maya Amoah
We sat down with artist Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku in his studio in Prampram, a coastal town an hour’s drive from Accra. A large studio space filled with vibrant large-scale projects adorning the walls and floors, Tieku waved me in to see his works and just as importantly, the excess of materials used to create his pieces. A chaotic mess of bags stuffed with used clothing were piled on one side of the room awaiting its time to be incorporated into a visual masterpiece.
“Discovering that about 15,000 garments are shipped into Ghana on an everyday basis was an eye opener for me. I was like, okay I can chase after this.”
Tieku is talking about the textile waste crisis in Ghana, where “Obroni Wawu”, meaning "dead white man’s clothing" imported from Western nations has caused significant environmental impact due to its excess and low quality of imported clothing deemed unsellable. Sellers simply can’t keep up with the influx and its unmonitored regulation has been criticized in recent years. The artist’s work highlights this issue of mass production from fast fashion retailers and mass consumption as society; emphasizing how the societal culture of disposablility has manifested into increasing waste that overflows the landfills, pollutes the water ways and negatively impacts local economies of tailors.
“Textiles do not decompose- at least not early enough. So you're gonna find these things in the same state in the earth, like, a 100 years from now which is to me is like, very crazy”
His art is an example of making a good thing out of a bad situation. Like a magician, the textile artist transforms the discarded clothing into artworks of various scale, using acrylics, dyes and oil pants. He then collates them on to a canvas, creating visually striking shapes and abstract figures in bold colors.
The process is technical and arduous. Venturing over to Accra’s notorious Kantamanto Market, he buys the discarded clothing from market traders and transports them to his studio by truck. The clothing that is in a deplorable, unusable state is considered trash and is taken from the market to the landfill, his second regular stop for material sourcing.
Is the process of extracting the materials as disgusting as one might imagine it to be? According to Emmanuel it is.
“What you have is a concoction of everything at the landfill site because no one is doing the separation. Of course, there are people there who are separating the waste to be burned but you find textile mixed up with a whole lot of other stuff.”
Cleaning the clothing scraps is an important of the process to him.
“Textile is a very vulnerable material. It's loose. It opens up to you when you want to work with it. But for me, that teaches me a lot about vulnerability as a person because I have to open myself up also to the material.”
As a self-taught artist, Emmanuel had explored various mediums over the last 10 years before he had settled on what he is more recently known for.
“There should be a journey for an artist where you move into one space, from one space into another, almost like a transition, right? So in the contemporary space that we find ourselves, we should be bold enough to reach out and touch other materials and see how we react to those materials as artists”
The journey to textile waste art was almost by chance.
Tieku explained that it was in his first degree in civil engineering where he was tasked to a project.
“We had to come up with, like, something crazy at the end of the study and I was thinking out of the box,” (At first I thought) Maybe there's a way to recycle garments, turn them into ash, and use them in the construction of, like, bricks or something in the construction industry... But that thought actually sparked a series of other thoughts for me as an artist-questioning the material, questioning its source production and its sustainability.”
Some of the greatest art have been made by mistake he laughs and explains.
"Look at Amoako Boafo, he said one day he was painting and he thought, oh, I could use my hand to paint and see how it looks. And that was it.”
Boafo, now an internationally recognized artist who has made waves in the art world, has his studio just down the block from the residency Emmanuel is currently working out of in Accra’s South Labadi neighbourhood. He also cites Ibrahim Mahama and Serge Attukwei Clottey as other inspirations.
“He is an artist I really look up to because in the same shape, in another form that he he uses textile, he's a textile artist, to express what he feels lacking in the system and to question social structures here in Africa that are worth talking about and commenting on. Serge Attukwei Clottey really inspires me because similarly to how I use discarded textile he takes the base things, gallons- used to trade, fetch water, oil, other stuff- and finds a way to elevate it to art while still finding a way to maintain its originality.”
Beyond addressing the global issues of environmental degradation, themes of his work centre around cultural boundaries and colonialism.
“It's a very crucial time either to be a social commentator or a creative in Ghana and in Africa. Because I feel like, you don't get to choose who you are when you're born but you get to choose who you wanna be. Being born into the culture, you find out that growing up you were not given the choice to the freedom to choose who you wanna be. Those are themes I like to explore in my work because it's something that I feel it's truly lacking in Africa."
“Listening Kwame Nkrumah’s statement Ghana free Forever, it feels like he's saying that the country as a state is free. But what about the people? The country as a state could be free from colonial rule, but the people are not. We're talking about mental colonialism. You still feel that daunting feeling on the young people here, that they are not free enough to be bold to explore, to really come out to do, like, what they wanna do.”
To Tieku, challenging social issues and fostering new structures is the true definition of legacy and success. He explains that while art shows and representation on the international stage is always an aspiration, his adamant demand for change is what trumps all.
“I intend to build an educational space sometime in the future. A creative space for young people, for children to come learn, really, and explore their gifts. You realize that within a space of 5 years, you've nurtured a new generation that are who are aware of their creative potential and are ready to take on social issues by using their the channel which they have, the tools they have in their hands to change society. That to me is, a touch of legacy.”
Spending the last few months hard at work at the prestigious Noldorr Residency, his first upcoming solo show is this Friday at The Mix Art Gallery. The show is titled Activism: Discarded Bodies, Discovered Transitions. You can find updates on his Instagram .