UEW Collaborates with Mozarteum University Salzburg on International Exhibition Project
The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) through its Department of Art Education has participated in an international exhibition project titled Rooted: Return, Retrieve, Rise.
It was held at the University of Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria, from Thursday, 18th to Monday, 22nd June, 2026.
The exhibition was developed during the Summer Semester of 2026 by students of Mozarteum University Salzburg under the supervision of Prof. Iris Laner. It featured artworks produced by UEW students as part of the Independent Studies in Drawing (ISD) course, taught during the 2025 academic year by Mr. Ebenezer Kow Abraham of the Department of Art Education.
The collaboration was facilitated by Ernst Wagner of Exploring Visual Cultures with additional support by Silke Schmidt of XR HUB Bavaria.
The ISD course is structured around a critical and practice-led pedagogical approach that interrogates and pushes the boundaries of academic drawing. The course encourages students to revisit and critically engage with historical knowledge systems to inform contemporary artistic practice.
Mr. Ebenezer Kow Abraham explained that “I deliberately framed the Independent Studies in Drawing course based on my teaching philosophy of Sankofa—the idea of returning to the past to retrieve what is valuable and using it to shape new directions in drawing practice.” He added that “this approach allows students to question inherited conventions while asserting their cultural memory, material choices and identities within their work.”
The exhibition was organised around three thematic strands, “Return, Retrieve, and Rise” which reflect the diverse approaches adopted by the students. The works demonstrate engagements with indigenous visual systems, alternative material surfaces such as calabash and Oware boards as well as innovative techniques that expand the boundaries of drawing practice.
A distinctive feature of the project was its collaborative curatorial approach. Students in Salzburg worked closely with the UEW artists through sustained dialogue to understand their conceptual intentions and exhibition preferences. This process ensured that the presentation of the works reflected the artists’ perspectives.
Prof. Iris Laner noted that “the exhibition became a space of shared authorship where students in Salzburg worked in dialogue with the artists in Winneba to shape how the works would be experienced. This made the curatorial process as important as the artworks themselves.”
The project explored themes of identity, cultural memory, belonging and transformation while strengthening intercultural exchange between students of both institutions. It further demonstrates the value of international collaboration in advancing teaching, learning and research in art education.
The Rooted: Return, Retrieve, Rise exhibition underscores UEW’s commitment to innovative pedagogy and global engagement in the visual arts.
