Chale Wote Street Art Festival
BY Cameron Cook
Over the past decade, Accra’s Chale Wote Street Art Festival has grown from a one-day showcase of local street art talent to an international celebration of multimedia and multi-disciplinary art that has spawned similar festivals across the African continent.
Started in 2011, the festival has spread from the colourful, open-air art gallery in Accra’s historical Jonestown neighbourhood to established institutions like the Nubuke Foundation and the Museum of Science and Technology. Movie screenings, photography exhibitions, immersive installations, mural art, design labs, musical performances and panel discussions are just a smattering of activities in the festival’s jam-packed programme.
Each edition of the festival has a bespoke theme, one that brings into focus not only the eclectic nature of the festival itself, but the history of Ghanaian culture and more broadly, of the African diaspora. 2013’s theme was “Re-Imagining Africa Folklore” whereas 2015’s “African Electronics” saw the festival explore the way technology continues to revolutionise African life. Taking even more cues from Afro-futurism, the festival’s last edition took on the title “Stargate to Africa”, which asked the audience to recontextualise African supernaturalism and ritualistic beliefs within modern political systems. For a part of the world that is sometimes underrepresented in modern art, the Chale Wote Street Art Festival is clearly miles ahead of the curve when it comes to pushing these concepts into the 2020s and beyond.
Chale Wote Street Art Festival runs from 12-21 August 2023 at the James Town district in Accra.
