Meet the 3 Ghanaian recipients of the 2023 Prince Claus Fund Seed Awards
The 3 Ghanaian creatives who made the list for the Prince Claus Fund Seed Award for 2023 are Kwamena Boison, Maame Adwoa Prempeh, and Abbey IT-A.
Last week, the Prince Claus Fund announced the 100 recipients of its 2023 Seed Awards. According to the list, 32 of the 100 recipients are from Africa—spread across 20 countries. A closer look at the list revealed that 3 of the 32 recipients from Africa are from Ghana, one of the three African countries with the most recipients this year.
The Seed Awards by Prince Claus Fund offer recognition and financial support of 5,000 euros for recipients to use at their own discretion and are awarded annually. They allow emerging artists to explore new perspectives and develop their practice on their own terms while providing access to an inspiring international network and were made partially possible by the British Council and the Ing Yoe Tan Fund.
Per the announcement, the 100 recipients were selected from a pool of 1889 applicants from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe.
Read Also: Prince Claus Fund reveals the 100 recipients of its 2023 Seed Awards
Meet the 3 Ghanaian recipients of the 2023 Seed Awards
The 3 Ghanaian creatives who made the list for the Prince Claus Fund Seed Award for 2023 are Kwamena Boison, Maame Adwoa Prempeh, and Abbey IT-A.
Kwamena Boison
Kwamena Boison is a social entrepreneur, multidisciplinary art enthusiast, and fashion designer based in Ghana. Drawing significant inspiration from centuries of sustainable Ghanaian fashion and artistic culture, Kwamena redesigns and makes art by collecting textile waste from landfills, bodies of water, and Kantamanto—one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in West Africa.Â
Kwamena is the founder and head of design at AFRODISTRICT and THE REVIVAL, a community-led sustainable design initiative creating art with upcycled global textile waste, which has received recognition from international platforms, such as BBC, Channel 4, and France 24, among others. He has also worked in collaboration with fashion and culture brands, such as Ozwald Boateng, Art Comes First, M+Rc Noir, and Harris Elliott.
Read Also: Meet the 3 Nigerian recipients of the 2023 Prince Claus Fund Seed Awards
Maame Adwoa Prempeh
Maame Adwoa Prempeh is an architect and researcher based in Ghana. Maame holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science. Her practice is at the intersection of art and architecture, and she is known for her community-led and participatory design approach. Maame has a focus on working on the African continent and centring underprivileged communities and their needs, and she explores architecture under three broad narratives: design, research, and advocacy. She is a firm believer in making architecture a more socially engaged and people-centered practice and using design as an effective platform for creative expression.Â
Abbey IT-A
Abbey IT-A is an artist and curator based in Ghana. Abbey holds a degree in Painting from the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. They are interested in the proverbial discursiveness inherent in contemporary art and how it holds in praxis. Abbey explores this concern through experimental, multi-vocal, curatorial interventions with text and conversation as points of departure.Â
As an associate at the Foundation for Contemporary Art—Ghana (FCA-Ghana), Abbey helps promote discourses on contemporary art in various capacities including facilitating research, coordinating workshops, moderating seminars, curating exhibitions and interventions, and labs.
Past recipients of the Prince Claus Fund Seed Awards from Ghana are Delasi Nunana and Brightackwerh.
