Kojo Marfo's Paintings Pay Homage to His Ghanaian Heritage
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Loading... - Kwesi Doku
- 08 Sep 2022
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At first glance, Kojo Marfo’s paintings are striking creations depicting stark faces and fecund foliage. But these artworks are more than just pretty pictures: they reveal deep-seated stories in their allusions to traditional Akan artifacts, carvings and sculptures that the artist first encountered in his youth, growing up in Ghana. On view at JD Malat Gallery’s New York pop-up through June 4, his first solo show in the city, “Gatekeepers of Heritage,” exemplifies these connections in eight new figurative works.
“I want people to see my work as a reflection of my Akan culture and my struggles living in the West,” says Marfo who moved to Brooklyn, New York as a teenager, and now lives and works in London. “When I'm painting someone, I always look for inspiration to keep me going and reference African magazines and photos.”
In Stranger #12 (2022), an abstracted figure with an oblong face, dilated pupils and saucer-shaped eyes stares at the viewer from against a black background. These physical attributes are direct references to akua’ba, round-headed Ghanaian fertility dolls that older women typically give to younger women of childbearing age.
Other works in the show also nod to aspects of African history. Fortitude (2022) shows two figures on a gray plane. The one on the left dons a ruby red shirt, strings of pearls and a bright burgundy glove. It’s hard to miss this final detail, as the subject’s hand sits prominently in the bottom corner of the painting. The work, says Marfo, is a commentary on the physical cruelty of Western colonizers in Africa. Read More...
