Nearly ten years ago, the opening of Gallery 1957 was marked by a seismic shift in the Ghanaian art scene with Serge Attukwei Clottey’s debut solo, My Mother’s Wardrobe. Today, Clottey has returned to where it all began, but on a scale never before seen. Occupying the staggering 1,400-square-meter Unlimited Gallery, his latest exhibition, [Dis]Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow, serves as both a homecoming and a radical interrogation of urban survival.

The exhibition, which remains open through January 3, 2026, is the first-ever solo takeover of this massive industrial space. It marks a profound evolution for the artist, moving beyond mere display into a sensory “laboratory” that explores the grit, grace, and ghosts of Jamestown, Accra’s historic coastal heart.

A Living Archive of Resilience

Co-curators Allotey Bruce-Konuah and Ato Annan have framed the exhibition not as a static collection of objects, but as a living archive. Clottey treats Jamestown—a community navigating the turbulent waters of harbor redevelopment and displacement—as a site of “living knowledge.”

Visitors do not merely view the work; they inhabit it. The exhibition utilizes a multi-sensory approach to storytelling:

• Scent & Sound: The briny air of the Atlantic and the rhythmic pulse of the Ga people’s daily lives are channeled through immersive audio and olfactory elements.
• Materiality: The artist continues his pioneering “Afrogallonism,” a practice of repurposing the ubiquitous yellow “Kufuor gallons.” These plastic jerrycans, once used to transport oil and water, are sliced, stitched with copper wire, and transformed into shimmering, golden-hued tapestries.

From Scarcity to Beauty

At the heart of the “Open Lab” is a philosophical question: What does it mean to rebuild? Clottey’s work suggests that resilience is more than just “getting by.” It is a generative act. By cutting, layering, and stitching discarded materials, he mirrors the “creative survival” of Jamestown itself—an environment where improvisation is a form of quiet, persistent resistance against decay.

One of the most striking installations, Jamestown nshonaa (Jamestown Beach), physically transports the audience. By stepping over worn blue fishing nets, visitors find their feet cushioned by soft sand, surrounded by the echoes of crashing waves—a poignant reminder of the sea’s centrality to the local community’s identity.

A New Language of Endurance

Through a blend of sculpture, photography, performance, and painting, [Dis]Appearing Rituals argues that nothing truly vanishes; it only transforms. The exhibition challenges the narrative of Jamestown as a site of loss, instead presenting it as a place of perpetual renewal.

As Clottey reinvents these “disappearing” traditions into new artistic languages, he invites the world to see the textures of Accra not as remnants of the past, but as the blueprint for a resilient tomorrow.