Samuel Donkoh & Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel (2026)

The study examines the design structure, symbolic content, and national identity constructs embedded in the Speaker of Parliament’s robes across Ghana’s major political epochs. Anchored in a qualitative historical research design. With the aid of expert purposive sampling technique, the study engaged six key stakeholders with specialised institutional and cultural knowledge through semi-structured interviews complemented by archival photographs of the parliamentary robes of present and past parliament speakers. Thematic and visual analysis constituted the methods of data analysis. The findings revealed that the design structure of Ghana’s parliamentary robes is firmly rooted in the British Westminster parliamentary tradition, reflecting the country’s colonial legislative inheritance and the desire for institutional continuity, formality, and global parliamentary legitimacy. The Eurocentric forms of parliamentary robes have not been adopted uncritically; they have been deliberately glocalised through the incorporation of Ghanaian national colours and Adinkra symbols. These indigenous elements function as visual signifiers that embed Ghanaian philosophies, values, and collective memory into the robes, thereby transforming them into hybrid dress fashion that simultaneously references colonial legacy and cultural reclamation. Consequently, the speaker’s robe emerges as a performative artefact that symbolically positions the speaker as both a neutral constitutional authority and a culturally grounded national figure. The study concludes that Ghana’s parliamentary robes serve as dynamic visual instruments that continuously negotiate and express the nation’s evolving democratic identity. It recommends the formal archiving, documentation, and preservation of these robes as significant national heritage artefacts.

Sumaila Issah (2026)

Children’s drawings are recognized as non-verbal narratives that reflect their cognitive, emotional, and social worlds, shaped significantly by their environmental contexts. In Ghana, however, research has remained largely descriptive, cataloguing what children draw without deeply examining how their surroundings function as an informal multidimensional curriculum. This qualitative study addresses this gap through the analysis of spontaneous drawings of 16 children across four schools in northern and southern Ghana, alongside the perspectives of 10 key stakeholders, all totaling 26 participants. Through thematic and visual analysis, the study found that the children’s drawings represent four categories of realities. This includes the Common Reality of their immediate environments depicted through detailed renderings of local infrastructures like boreholes, classrooms and bicycles among others. The children’s drawings are also encoded with their Normative Realities, evidenced by consistent inclusions of religious attire, while Projected and Prophetic Realities emerge through aspirational elements such as aeroplanes and fishing boats, reflecting future hopes. Also, the study found pronounced regional variations in the children’s drawing between southern and Northern Ghanaian settings, underscoring the socio-ecological specificity of artistic content. The study concludes that the environment acts as a dynamic, multidimensional informal curriculum for children artistic development. It is imperative that teachers, parents, and cultural coordinators in Ghana, particularly within the studied contexts, actively collaborate to recognise, and intentionally leverage the child’s environmental milieu as a legitimate and vital curriculum for children artistic development.

Cyril Senyo Kpodo (2025)

This study explores the intersection of African sculpture and semiotics, focusing on mask forms created from discarded wood sourced from the shores of Winneba and scavenged metals from mechanic shops and scrap depots. The study situates itself within junk art, a movement that reimagines discarded materials as vehicles for artistic and cultural expression. Employing an arts-based, studio-driven research methodology, the artist-researcher repurposes and documents a process beginning with intuitive selection of weathered wood, often from decommissioned canoes, and integration of found metal objects to create four evocative masks. The results provide the creative procedure as well as visual and symbolic analyses of the four works, namely Resurrection, Awula Bibio (Young woman), Korle-Bu and Shine-Eye, interpreting their forms, materials, and inscriptions as commentaries on life cycles, cultural identity, and resilience. The study affirms art’s profound dual role: as a vivid mirror that reflects the core values of society, and as a dynamic catalyst that ignites new transformative ways of thinking.

Christopher Effah Oppong, Alice Korkor Ebeheakey, Dickson Adom, Steve Kquof (2024)

Tattooing has been practiced for several years across the world. It is considered an art form that transmits cultural expressions and reflects the differences between groups of people globally. In Ghana, the popularity of contemporary tattooing has soared for various reasons. However, there is little scholarly research on tattoo culture in Ghana. Therefore, the study attempts to appreciate the aesthetic elements of selected contemporary tattoos in Kumasi and Accra metropolitan areas to reveal their social, philosophical, and other underpinnings. Qualitative ethnographic approach was employed in which a total of twenty-two (22) tattooed respondents were obtained for data collection using homogenous purposive and exponential discriminative snowball sampling techniques. Unstructured-Interviews and naturalistic observations constituted the data collection instruments. The study found that contemporary tattoo designs in Kumasi and Accra metropolises diversely included minimalist designs, religious symbols, portraits, decorative designs, philosophical symbols, among others, which aesthetically convey the religious identity, philosophy of life, and self-expression of tattoo wearers. While the study concludes that contemporary tattoo art in Ghana (Kumasi & Accra) is an embodiment of a dynamic and evolving art form that symbolically resonates with the persona, philosophy of life, sociocultural and religious expressions of tattoo wearers, it is recommended that further research should be conducted on the side effect of tattoo art on the health of tattoo wearers in Ghana. This will help determine whether or not tattoo art should be formalised as an acceptable academic field of study as well as be promoted by art institutions, galleries and museums in Ghana.

Alex Kwasi Azaglo, Dickson Adom, Steve Kquofi, Alice Korkor Ebeheakey (2024)

The chiefs and people of the Klikor Traditional Area in the Volta Region of Ghana celebrate the Fiasidi tradition, an annual religious and cultural festival. A yearly ritual performance known as Tagbayiyi (pilgrimage to the sacred grove) is a part of the Fiasidi tradition. Despite the abundance of research relative to the human and cultural rights aspects of the Fiasidi tradition, there is a glaring lack of research on the aesthetic elements reflected in the Tagbayiyi ritual performance. The study investigated the aesthetic aspects of the Tagbayiyi ritual by highlighting its visual and performing arts to gain a deeper understanding of the Anlo-Ewe cultural identity. The study employed a qualitative ethnographic design to interact and access the viewpoints of the participants. A total of fifteen (15) participants, comprising high priests, tradition keepers, ritual functionaries, and supplicants in the Klikor Traditional Area were sampled using a homogenous type of the purposive sampling approach. The study found that the Tagbayiyi exhibits aesthetic elements such as indigenous costume regalia, sacred stools, local beads, priestly emblems, rhythmic and graceful musical dances among others, which symbolically represent the sociocultural identity of the Klikor people. The study, therefore, recommends that the leadership of Klikor (high priests, council of elders & ritual functionaries) should liaise with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Ghana Tourism Authority, National Commission on Culture, and other cultural institutions to preserve and promote the rich aesthetic elements showcased during Tagbayiyi rite for the benefit of the current and future generations of Klikor.

Emmanuel Joel Ayu Nyarko, Kofi Atta Yorke (2024)

This study delves into the utilisation of videos as an educational tool among health workers, specifically, midwives and nursing officers, in Ghana. Despite the prevalence of video-based teaching in health education, scanty attention has been given to this aspect within the Ghanaian context. This research aims to fill this gap by investigating the perspectives and experiences of health officers concerning the integration of videos into their instructional practices. Employing a qualitative descriptive research design, the study was conducted in the Ga South Municipal Assembly (GSMA) of the Greater Accra Region. Maximum variation and expert purposive sampling techniques were used to select twenty-five (25) health officials. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the gathered data through interviews. The findings revealed a dearth of culturally relevant videos for health education in Ghana, leading health workers to rely on online platforms with unsuitable content and language barriers. The study underscored the necessity for collaboration between the Ghana Health Service, video production experts, health professionals, community leaders, and cultural influencers to develop videos tailored to the needs of the target audience, thereby facilitating effective health education within Ghana, particularly in the GSMA.

Awuni Samuel, Bekoe Gabriel, Owusu Panin Kwame Baah, Donkor Eyram Emmanuel, Opoku-Bonsu Kwame (2023)

Traditional wood carving and contemporary wood sculpture are amicable in the world of art and have coordinated their working ways in shaping the wood art traditions. The study, comparatively, assesses Ahwiaa traditional wood carving and contemporary wood sculpture in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana based on their materiality, forms and functions. The study adopts descriptive research design using observation, interviews and photography to gather data from twenty (20) purposively sampled experts in the study area. Data collected for the study were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis tool. The outcome of the study shows that Ahwiaa carvers used locally produced tools for carving while KNUST contemporary carvers employ sophisticated equipment in their carving activities. However, both traditional and contemporary wood practices in the study area used wood as the common material to produce carvings that impact Ghanaian cultural heritage, social progress and artistic practices. The study therefore concludes that traditional and contemporary woodcarving practices in the study area are two interconnected forms of wood art that have the potential to inspire, challenge, and complement each other when collaboration and interdependence exist between them. The study calls for collaboration and interdependence between Ahwiaa traditional wood carvers and KNUST contemporary wood sculptors to inspire and open up exciting opportunities for artistic exploration, adventure, innovation, cross-pollination of ideas and expertise for the growth of wood art in the study area. 

Owusu Panin Kwame Baah, Dickson Adom, Awuni Samuel, Ama Fening Peggy, Nicholas Addo Tetteh (2023)

Various techniques are used by jewellers in Ghana in depositing a film of gold on surfaces of jewellery items. Although traditional goldplating has and continues to chalk a high level of excellence in jewellery making in Ghana, little documentation has been done on it. While traditional goldplating has been practiced for decades in Ghana, the introduction of electroplating into jewellery in Ghana is downplaying its relevance. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to find out how indigenous Asante goldplating technique is done in Ghana. The study adopted the use of an art-based research design under the qualitative research approach where personal interviews, photographs, and participatory observation were used for collecting qualitative data from 19 purposively sampled Asante’s goldsmiths at Manhyia and Ayeduase in Kumasi, Ghana using expert sampling. The findings of the study have shown that traditional gold plating is an aesthetically pleasing, low cost and efficient technique used by the Asante goldsmiths that has not lost its worth. The study contends that skills and knowledge in traditional goldplating should be passed on from goldsmiths to jewellers and other apprentices who are interested in learning the craft. This would help preserve and promote this rich cultural craft for posterity.

Dickson Adom, Emmanuel Jewel Peprah Mensah & Gloria Esi Kportufe (2023)

Palace museums and shrine houses play a crucial role in reconstructing the histories and cultures of people in specific communities. In a broader perspective, palace museums and shrine houses recount the origin, identity, economic and warfare prowess as well as the material culture of a people (Shalima, 2019). Shrine houses are typical to many indigenous Ghanaian communities. However, due to the inter-ethnic wars and the captivation of kingdoms in the colonial era as well as the influx of Christianity, Islam and other foreign religions, most of these shrines are non-existent (Agbiji & Swart, 2015). For instance, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, there are about ten (10) of these shrines scattered across the region that have been refurbished and inscribed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage List. Besease, Adwinase (Patakro Bonsam), Asawase, Adako Jachie, Bodwease, Abirim, Kentinkrono, Saaman, Asenemanso and Kenyasi Tano Shrines have preserved the spiritual embodiments of these people. The Tano god, according to oral history, is the most revered god among the Asante people, hence a Tano Shrine was found in every community in the Asante Kingdom of Ghana. This is typical in the case of Bodwease where both the shrine and palace museum are opened to visitors. These shrines were believed to inhabit potent spiritual powers and were held in high esteem as well as revered in these communities. They served as a spiritual backbone for the chiefs, hence, these shrine houses are situated close to the palaces of these towns.