December 3, 2020 (Accra, Ghana) – A R T Communication + Brand Consultancy is delighted to announce the global PR representation of Noldor, Ghana’s first independent residency program.
Established in 2020, the Noldor Artist Residency is an annual four-week program based in Accra, Ghana. Founded by contemporary African art specialist, social entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Awuah-Darko, the residency invites one emerging African artist, technically trained and with limited access to artistic resources, to expand on his practice in a dedicated studio space and retreat. Ghana’s first independent residency program, Noldor is committed to nurturing African artists’ creative process, while acting as a pillar for their introduction and development within a flourishing local subculture and global contemporary art scene.
Noldor unfolds across two distinct spaces. For the first three weeks, the artist resides and creates in a large-scale warehouse studio space located in Accra’s seaside La district. The final week takes place in a secluded space in the periphery of central Accra, an alternative psychological retreat where he receives personal, professional and creative guidance. Through its unconventional format, Noldor advances an organic, holistic approach to creation – one where emotional health nourishes an artist’s creative process.
Running each Fall and with its first iteration launched in November 2020, Noldor invites its residents to produce a portfolio of works which are ultimately exhibited within the warehouse space and subsequently brought to global audiences through partnerships with international galleries.
Deeply informed by the Ghanaian sociocultural context, both locally attuned and globally minded, Noldor is envisioned as both a participant in and catalyst to the emergence of a striving local subculture. More than a space for creative development, the residency works hand-in-hand with other cultural outlets, both public and private. An independent institutional space, it contributes to fostering and growing an aspiring local ecosystem where artists, museums and art galleries meet.
Paired with its profound curatorial concern, it emerges as a commercially aware residency program: one actively looking to both support the longevity of its artists’ careers within a competitive art market and strengthen a growing local collectorship. Finally, Noldor affirms its educational role, offering learning opportunities for both participants and local audiences and engaged in altering local perceptions of and access to both contemporary art and psychological health.
Launched in November 2020, the residency welcomed its first emerging Ghanaian artist: Emmanuel Taku. A selection of 10 works produced throughout the program, titled Temple of Blackness — It Takes Two, will be exhibited within Noldor’s warehouse studio space from December 4, 2020 to January 17, 2021.
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Joseph Awuah-Darko:
Joseph Awuah-Darko (b. in London) is the founder and director of the Noldor Artist Residency, an annual 4-week program inviting an emerging African artist with limited access to resources to expand on his/her practice in a dedicated studio space and retreat in Accra, Ghana.
An African contemporary art connoisseur, collector and dealer, he has continuously looked to his Ghanaian upbringing and extensive travels to cultivate the ties between an established European art scene and Africa’s emerging cultural industries. With experience at African modern and contemporary art gallery Sulger-Buel in London, Awuah-Darko has actively nurtured his understanding of global art market dynamics, thereby seeking to apply and adapt them to his African roots.
In parallel, Awuah-Darko has established himself as a fervent social entrepreneur and philanthropist engaged in notions of sustainable development – both economic and cultural – and in particular as it applies to the Ghanaian context. His philanthropic endeavors, among which the notable e-waste management Agbogblo Shine Initiative, have owed him widespread global recognition (Forbes 2019 Africa 30 Under 30; West African Business Excellence Awards).
Mirroring his entrepreneurship experience, ties with the international contemporary art world, and profound engagement for a striving yet restrained Ghanaian, and African, contemporary creation, he established the Noldor Artist Residency in 2020 in Accra.
Noldor Artist Residency
128 Ring Road East
La, Accra, Ghana
www.noldorresidency.com
Image credits: Exterior View of the Noldor Artist Residency Warehouse Space. La, Accra, Ghana. Courtesy of Noldor Artist Residency.