The Nkyinkyim Story
Welcome to Nkyinkyim Museum, a space dedicated to the visual archiving of African history and heritage. Nestled in the farmlands of Nuhalenya-Ada in the Greater Accra region, the Nkyinkyim Museum is the creation of Ghanaian multi-disciplinary artist and educator Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Founder and Creative Director of 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, spirituality, and philosophy embodied in the sculptures. Griots are respected and learned people who have been trained to understand the multifaceted aspects of describing, explaining, curating and preserving culture.
Nkyinkim Museum’s Griot Learning Program has been in place since 2019 and has graduated six griots who have assumed the duty of explaining the background and lessons revealed at the museum. When we interact with each other and with the artifacts and their associated stories, we can understand the journey that led us from our earliest stories to now and all the twists and turns along the way.
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 and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, USA.
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.
Nkyinkyim Installation was then moved to Ussher Fort, a former slave fort that was later converted into a prison. Again in 2017, Cape Coast Castle hosted Nkyinkyim Installation in an exhibition titled “Portraits of the Middle Passage, In Situ” an experience that was curated by Fulbright Scholar and collaborator Danny Dunson.
The funerary sculptures of Nkyinkyim Installation 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 Equal Justice Initiative museum sites in Montgomery, Alabama.
Address
Nkyinkyim Museum Nuhalenya-Ada, Greater Accra, Ghana
Hours
We're Open: Monday - Sunday. 9 AM to 5 PM GMT
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