Kwaku Ananse

Opening Reception Friday October 10, 2025 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Awuku Alex’s “Kwaku Ananse” opens Friday, October 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.! This exhibition will be open for viewing through Friday, October 17.

“My work explores the alienation of Ghanaian oral traditions, particularly the Kwaku Ananse stories, within today’s digital age. These stories and narratives which was once vibrant and shared communally around the fire now risk displacement, overshadowed by screens and algorithmic voices. Through my practice, I translate these intangible stories into tangible forms objectified, archived, and re-imagined for contemporary discourse.

Using ceramic stoneware, I shape vessels and fragments that evoke both permanence and fragility, suggesting how memory solidifies yet fractures when uprooted from oral contexts. Jute rope references the webs of Ananse, but also the ties of kinship and continuity that oral traditions once wove between generations. Interwoven with these are remnants of computer debris or discarded mouse and keyboard keys symbolizing the digital saturation that both erodes culture and traditions. The blackened finish, achieved through spray paint and graphite, embodies obscured memory, loss, and resilience, echoing both the void of forgotten stories and the endurance of ancestral voices.

By merging clay, rope, and digital remnants, I position Ananse as a contemporary archive his trickster spirit navigating fractured networks of tradition and technology. These works invite viewers to reflect on what is lost, what is carried forward, and how stories must continually adapt to survive” (Awuku, 2025).