In '3 Decades Around the Sun', artists Awo Tsegah, Kwadwo Peprah, and Kwame Kyei circulate themes of Ghanaian national identity, protest, proverbial wisdom, and popular culture. The work of each artist draws from their individual practices and yet speaks intimately to one another. 
 
Awo Tsegah employs photography, graphics, and montage to build a strikingly colorful and surrealist collection. She shares her visions activated by contemporary popular music while tying them to the age-old political issues within the country. A dazzling combination of traditional motifs and contemporary issues, Tsegah’s work speaks to a cycle of collective hope and brewing restlessness. 
 
Kwadwo Peprah works in acrylic, oil, and graphite to paint a transcendent Ghana. His use of traditional masks and modern art style make clear the proverbial references in his work. Peprah looks not only to the past, but to the present for the wisdom carried throughout his practice. Emerging contemporary proverbs criticize government bodies and allude to a brighter future. The timeless adage ‘Ɛdom eni sa deɛ ɔso ntakrakyɛ’ or ‘All eyes on the one who wears the feathered crown’ in Peprah’s work recognizes the furthering of proverbial tradition and interprets this in stunning visual style. 
 
Kwame Kyei uses his background in graphics and screenprinting to create this series of bold and playful posters. Following the story of Kwame Nkruhmah’s rise to power, this series makes use of the political connotations of the poster medium to cement Nkrumah as not only a symbol of nation identity, but as a pop culture icon. 
 
All in their 30th year, these artists speak to their personal development in tandem with the nation’s. In an effort to immortalize themselves and insert their names into a national identity, the artists of 3 Decades Around the Sun compose a world of dynamic pieces that oblige the viewer to consider Ghana’s political history in addition to the wisdom that present day Ghanians impart. 

March 2023