Category archives for: Artcultainment

‘We don’t need air con’: how Burkina Faso builds schools that stay cool in 40C (104F) heat

Architects use local materials and merge traditional techniques with modern technology to make schools and orphanages cool, welcoming places ÈLIA BORRAS If architects are people who like to think their way around challenges, building schools in Burkina Faso must be the dream job. The challenges, after all, are legion: scorching temperatures in the high seasons, […]

Slaves of God: Nigeria’s traditional Osu slavery practice was stopped, but the suffering continues

MICHAEL E. ODIJIE There are global efforts to fight modern slavery, but a few traditional systems still hold strong in west Africa. These include Osu, Ohu and Trokosi. The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo spoke to Michael Odijie who has researched one of the systems – Osu – and what can be done to finally […]

Playing Soccer in $1.50 Sandals That Even Gucci Wants to Copy

In Ivory Coast, lêkê are the preferred footwear for amateur games and almost everything else. ELIAN PELTIER The wealthy pros of Ivory Coast’s national soccer team were resting in their luxury hotel, preparing for a match in Africa’s biggest tournament, when Yaya Camara sprinted onto a dusty lot and began fizzing one pass after another […]

How Africans Are Changing French — One Joke, Rap and Book at a Time

More than 60 percent of French speakers now live in Africa. Despite growing resentment in France, Africans are contributing to the evolution and spread of the French language. ELIAN PELTIER French, by most estimates the world’s fifth most spoken language, is changing — perhaps not in the gilded hallways of the institution in Paris that […]

Need Therapy? In West Africa, Hairdressers Can Help

An initiative to train hairdressers in mental health counseling is providing relief to hundreds of clients in a region with the world’s least access to therapy. ELIAN PELTIER Joseline de Lima was wandering the dusty alleys of her working-class neighborhood in the capital of Togo one day last year, when a disturbing thought crossed her […]

The “Living Room” Restaurant…

…..where local dishes reign supreme KOFI AYIM On a typical Sunday, the Living Room restaurant, located in the enclaves of the rich and famous East Legon, bustles at the seams with revelers.  The 20-year-old restaurant started as a modest retirement dream project together with a living room–type movie house, according to Mr. Charles Mainoo, the […]

Meet Bee Arthur, the enterprising and multilingual fashion maestro and artist

Bee Arthur – the dynamic designer from Ghana whose signature blond tresses make her visible and recognizable everywhere she is present – took the fashion world by surprise back in 2001 when she won the KORA All Africa Fashion Award in Sun City, South Africa. The journey to this illustrious fashion designer and stylistic icon […]

Nigerian Woman Helen Williams Sets New Guinness World Record for Longest Handmade Wig

Helen Williams, a wigmaker from Lagos, has entered the Guinness World Records by creating the world’s longest handmade wig. The wig measures an astounding 351.28 meters (1,152 ft 5 in) with Helen dedicating 11 days and over two million naira (£2,031; $2,493) to craft this remarkable wig. The GWR acknowledged her feat, by sharing on […]

Gabon seeks return of rare Fang mask sold in France for over €4 million

Authorities in Gabon have launched a legal battle to get back a precious wooden mask used in secret ceremonies by the Fang ethnic group, which was brought to France in colonial times and sold at auction earlier this year for €4.2 million. Lawyers for the transitional government in Gabon, whose long-time president was overthrown in […]

El Anatsui Builds Monumental Art from Daily Life

As his newest sculptures fill Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, the Ghanaian artist is returning to his roots and thinking about his legacy. SIDDHARTHA MITTER It’s one of the great origin stories in contemporary art, a flash of instinct that would revolutionize a field. In 1998, El Anatsui was walking around Nsukka, Nigeria, and noticed a […]

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