Kwame Nkrumah, 1st president of the Republic of Ghana, 1960-1966.

Abstract

The art piece had been part of the student’s Masters’ degree project but was unfortunately not completed. The portrait of Nkrumah seated majestically looking towards the future with a sense of determination, knowledge and Pan Africanism. Nkrumah is seated in a traditional Asante attire while at the same time, he presents a suit of the socialist and the Kente culture. By wearing the two, Nkrumah tends to suggest the resurrection of African socialism, consciousness of his culture but at the same time conscious of the social cultural movements going on globally during the cold war. The warden of Nkrumah commissioned his project as part of his masters’ project. He produced many sculptures but one was selected because of the building. The current coloring of green and white has distorted the original meaning. The original piece done by Mpagi was damaged during a students’ strike so an “amateur” artist was commissioned to carry out the restoration, but did not restore the original artifact, unfortunately.