There is no greater disappointment in travelling upon the realisation that you have just missed out on a local festival. That’s what happened to me in Accra, upon learning that the Chale Wote street art festival would be taking place just a week after my date of departure from Ghana. Gutted does not even cover it! I absolutely love street art, and I always seek it out whenever I am in a new city. It helps me to build understanding of the unique identify of a place and, in my view, helps to elevate the aesthetics of an area, if it’s done well. Accra did not disappoint in this vein.
Chale Wote has been a part of Accra’s arts scene since 2011, and it’s a platform to bring together music, dance, performance and street art. This has resulted in an amazing legacy of hot urban artwork dotted around the city in various locales. My guide for the afternoon, Edem, took me on a whistlestop mini-tour of Accra see some of the city’s best pieces.
We journeyed by tro-tro, Ghana’s ubiquitous network of battered mini-buses. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with locals, whilst eating fried plantain and listening to music by Amakye Dede, my first experience of tro-tro travelling did not disappoint in terms of getting a genuine experience of the country. Each of the buses has its own ‘conductor’ who shouts out to potential passengers of where the vehicle is heading. More and more people are squeezed into the impossibly small seats – it’s a ‘cosy’ experience, if nothing else. Its also incredibly cheap, and the most cost-effective way of getting around the city.
Our first location was a gloriously painted motorway underpass and slip road. Edem informed that there had been plans for all of the Accra’s underpasses to adorned with urban artwork, but sadly plans had fell through. It was such a shame to hear this, as the vibrancy of the murals really helped to give viv la to what would have been an otherwise p
Fast Facts
- Chale Wote Street Art Festival takes place in the latter half of August.
- Chale Wote Street Art Festival (@chalewoteofficial) • Instagram photos and videos
- Magneto Motherland – Chale Wote 2023 promo video – Accra Dot Alt Radio
