The Nkyinkyim Story
About Us
Welcome to Nkyinkyim Museum, a space dedicated to visual archiving of African history and African Heritage. Nestled in the farmlands of Nuhalenya-Ada in the Greater Accra region, the Nkyinkyim Museum site evolved the need of a permanent home for the Nkyinkyim Installation. Nkyinkyim Installation and Museum is the creation of Ghanaian multi-disciplinary artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, founder of the museum and the Ancestor Project.
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo began archiving oral history and traditions through his sculptures in 2009. The Museum is known for using griots* to unravel the history, symbolism, traditional African religion, and philosophy embodied in the sculptures.
The Nkyinkyim Museum is an evolving museum that seamlessly combines African art, history and performance; intangible cultural heritage such as drumming, dancing, traditional rites and food. The museum experience is has been specifically designed to guide visitors towards healing and restorative justice; healing from the legacies of African enslavement and colonialism.
* Griots are respected and learned people who have been trained to understand and explain the multifaceted aspects of describing, explaining, curating and preserving culture through the artifacts and stories associated with them, the people who interact with each other and artifacts to understand the journeys that lead us to here and now, and all the stops along the way from the earliest stories. Nkyinkim Museum’s Griot Learning Program has been in place since 2019, and have seen six griot graduates (with an additional six in training), assume the duty of learning and explaining the background and lessons revealed at the museum.
Installation Sculptures Journey
Nkyinkyim Installation is an evolving and distributed installation created by Ghanaian multi-disciplinary Artist and Educator, Kwame Akoto-Bamfo. Envisioned to archive African history and African heritage, the installation has a prominent theme dedicated to enslaved Africans. The globally recognized installation has additional extensions at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama; the Nkyinkyim Installation and Legacy Museum in Nuhalenya-Ada, Greater Accra; and Nkyinkyim Installation; Dirge Across time/Melancholic lullabies. [<—needs some clarifying]
The sculptures were “outdoored” in the 2017 exhibition Fauxreedom, as a commentary to Ghana’s 60th independence celebration. During Fauxreedom, the sculptures were installed at the tomb of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, who led Ghana to Independence. Following the event, the sculptures stayed at the tomb of Kwame Nkrumah for three months.
After Fauxreedom the installation was moved to Ussher Fort, a former slave fort that was later converted into a prison. Again in 2017, Nkyinkyim enslaved funerary Cape Coast Castle in an exhibition titled “Portraits of the Middle Passage, In Situ” an experience that was curated by then Fulbright Scholar and collaborator Danny Dunson. The funerary sculptures of Nkyinkyim stayed within the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle for a year.
The sculptures were moved to their current location at Nkyinkyim Museum while a section completed a symbolic journey when they were finally installed at The legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Planning A Visit?
Give us a call at +233 200 932 148
We are located at Nuhalenya-Ada, Greater Accra Ghana
Hours
We’re Open: Monday – Sunday. 9:00am to 5:00pm GMT, Ghana
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