Sela Adjei - MIASA - Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa

Efo Sela is an artist with degrees in Communication Design, and African Art and Culture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He received his PhD in African Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon. He is an internationally active scholar in the field of postcolonial provenance research, restitution, and transcultural collaboration and multimodal research. He has worked with researchers, artists and curators on various art/research projects at the Nkyinkyim Museum (Nuhalenya), Nubuke Foundation (Accra), Museum of Science and Technology (Accra), Ubersee Museum (Bremen), Volkerkunde Museum (Zurich), Museum der Kulturen (Basel), MARKK (Hamburg), and the Bernisches Historisches Museum (Bern) etc. Sela has participated in over thirty art exhibitions throughout his 13-year career. He recently published the co-edited volume: Fifteen Colonial Theft: A Guide to Looted African Heritage in Museums (Pluto Press, 2024). He is the founder of Grin Studios Limited, an art consultancy that connects creatives, cultural producers, and researchers, specializing in museum studies, art exhibitions, design pedagogy and art based research. He is a lecturer at the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Accra.

MIASA Project: Fragments

The paintings for the proposed exhibition, Fragments, seeks to draw critical attention to the revenge attacks perpetrated mainly by the youth in the protracted Alavanyo-Nkonya conflict in Volta Region, Ghana. This ongoing conflict which was originally about a territorial dispute and access to land has lasted for about ten decades, claiming many lives, the most vulnerable being women and children. The hostilities of the Alavanyo-Nkonya conflict can remotely be traced to contested boundaries drawn by Hans Gruner under the German colonial administration. The conflict initially started over disputed land in the Alavanyo-Nkonya area. The disputed land is speculated to be about 6,459.82 acres which experts claim is fertile for agrarian purposes and with possible deposits of gold, clay and mercury. The earliest violent incident occurred during preparations for Empire Day Celebrations in 1923 which clearly marked a “centenary” of hostilities in (2023). Throughout this conflict, the Alavanyos have based their “ownership claim” of the disputed land on the indigenous ‘Anya tree’ boundary demarcations while the Nkonyas refer to evidence of German colonial partition “recorded” in what they simply refer to as ‘Gruner’s Map’.

Year:
2024/2025