Read an exclusive excerpt from MANJU Journal's debut artistic publication

MANJU Journal’s highly anticipated major publication is finally here, and we couldn’t be more excited. VOICES – Ghana’s Artists in Their Own Words documents and celebrates Ghana’s vibrant visual arts community, highlighting the creative excellence, innovation, and influence of the country’s artists both at home and in the diaspora. Born from a collaboration with London-based independent publisher Twentyfour Thirtysix and MANJU Journal’s founder Richmond Orlando Mensah, the book offers an intimate, first-person account of Ghana’s contemporary art scene. Featuring over 90 exclusive interviews with artists, curators, and gallerists−including Kesewa Aboah, James Barnor, Zohra Opoku, Ablade Glover, Campbell Addy, Anya Paintsil, Na-Chainkua Reindorf, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Osei Bonsu, Bianca A. Manu, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Kwesi Botchway, Ekow Eshun, Paul Ninson, Ela Bulley, Rita Mawuena Benissan, Kusheda Mensah, Cornelius Annor, Godfried Donkor, Otis Quaicoe, Derek Fordjour, Gideon Appah, Annan Affotey, and David Alabo. VOICES provides unparalleled insight into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of Ghanaian visual artists. Africa’s presence in the global contemporary art landscape is undeniable, and this new generation of Ghanaian artists is at the forefront of a transformative cultural movement. Confident in their voices and their place in the world, these creatives share their stories from within the community, moving beyond outsider perspectives to tell their own narrative.

VOICES- Ghana's Artists In Their Own Words can be purchased HERE

“Who’s to say that the Cezanne of the 21st Century might not be a Ghanaian artist? Transformative works of art can come from anywhere and what we’ve seen in the last ten years in Ghana is a Renaissance. It’s not only brought about a wave of creative production but an understanding for the artists to see themselves as having the ability to be part of a global conversation.” - Osei Bonsu, Curator International Art, Tate Modern

“We are witnessing a generation of Africans that are the most connected that we have ever been at any point in history and there is a cultural revolution afoot, not just in contemporary art, literature and music, but also in entrepreneurship and technology.'' - Derek Fordjour

VOICES also includes:

• A foreword by writer and curator Ekow Eshun

• An introduction by Richmond Orlando Mensah, Founding Director of MANJU Journal

• An afterword by Paul Ninson, Director of DIKAN, Accra

• A reference section detailing Ghana’s leading art and academic institutions

Selected press coverage includes Frieze, The Guardian, OkayAfrica, Wallpaper, Selamta Magazine (Ethiopian Airlines), Evening Standard, AnOther, Dazed, i-D, HypeArt, Pulse Ghana, MyJoyOnline.

CREDIT

• Book cover; Photography Jude Lartey
• 'Trip to Jerusalem' (2021), courtesy Joshua Oheneba-Takyi. Photography Kwadwo Asiedu
• 'men after baptism' (circa 1990), Perseverance Photo Studio, Anloga. Courtesy of the photographer and saman archive
• 'Ashford Inkumsah' (2022), courtesy Jude Lartey
• James Barnor & Professor Ablade Glover, two of our esteemed contributors from the publication
• 'Fruits Are For Boys', courtesy Nana Yaw Oduro
• 'Conversation' (2020), courtesy Cornelius Annor
• 'Not Much, Yet Everything', courtesy Kesewa Aboah
• Oil and sponge cloth on canvas, 101x76cm, courtesy Adjei Tawiah and Gallery 1957
• 'Clementine', courtesy Sarfo Annor Emmanuel
• Self-portrait with a store assistant at the West African Drug Company, central Accra, 1952, James Barnor and galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière