Drawing and Traditional Ghanaian Adinkra Symbols: Proposal Drawings of Emmanuel Ofosu Kwateng Architectural Designs.

Abstract

Adinkra Symbols are multifaceted by virtue of proliferating of ideas and exploration springing up across its symbolism and philosophy. The proliferating of ideas and exploration of Adinkra symbolic motifs has to lead the symbols to be amalgamated into several disciplined in academics such as drawing. However, drawing now has liberated from the traditional sense of supporting other disciplines to a medium of expression now, for this proposal drawing studies. This study reviews recent drawings of Architectural Designs by Emmanuel Ofosu Kwateng, a 21 years of age student of the University of Education, Winneba which adopts drawing as a medium to explore the multifaceted of Adinkra symbols in his Architectural Designs. Showing Emmanuel Ofosu Kwateng experimentation of adapting Ashanti’s Adinkra symbols in Architectural Designs this paper investigates how traditional Ashanti’s Adinkra Symbols and its visual culture is restaged and detoured in contemporary art-space to create artworks that not only bear cultural identity but possesses qualities that define contemporary art in both drawing and Architecture. The results to this search show that the philosophy and visual studying of Ashanti Adinkra Symbol exist in hybrid nature that can be appropriate into several disciplines for multifaceted form in contemporary art since it enables the re invention of Ashanti Adinkra symbol for rich visual culture in contemporary art practices and techniques. This appropriated version of Ashanti’s Adinkra symbols in an Architectural Designs situate Emmanuel Ofosu Kwateng practices into the minimalist approach to simplicity as the symbols already exist in simple forms. The proposal drawings conferred here explain the practices of contemporary art in the 21st century can refer to cultural philosophies and symbols to produce new visual forms of realities reflecting 21st-century artistic development.

Keywords: Proposal drawing, Adinkra symbol, Studio practice, Architectural design, and Minimalism art.