Co-labouring around art is seen as a playful process in which social ties are made, social concerns expressed, and possible futures portrayed. Through artistic collaborations in transdisciplinary research, it is possible to highlight the extraordinary and to look anew at the daily. During the workshop in Kejetia, the painter Christophe Sawadogo and photographer Mabel Seena engaged in the making of artworks with residents of Kejetia. Together with women, Christophe created an art installation; Mabel co-laboured with schoolchildren in a photography project. For Christophe the line between art and the social is trespassed constantly; there is so much art in daily work. Just look at the plaster designs women in villages in northern Ghana and southern Burkina draw on their houses when they make repairs after the rainy season.
The collaborative artwork in Kejetia was prompted by sad events, which occurred underground. In recent years, the mining community of Gbane, of which Kejetia is part, had been shocked by a series of fatal accidents involving gold miners working underground for small-scale gold operations as well as employees of the Chinese run Shaanxi mining operation. Christophe Sawadogo aimed to co-labour by creating art that would both symbolize the work of artisanal gold miners and commemorate the miners who had died in the dreadful accidents.
Mabel organized a workshop with schoolchildren of the Bonsa Basic Academy, a private school in Gbane which was founded by a former gold miner. Her aim was to instruct the children how to use the camera and, by strolling with them through town, inviting them to make photographs of scenes and events that they consider characteristic of their daily lives.
Christophe and mining materials
In preparation for his co-labouring activities, Christophe expressed the wish to work with materials that serve a role in mining. Here, he is standing next to old drilling equipment, which would later become part of the installation.
1-2/5 Bags for carrying ore transformed into a canvas
Christophe and Zakari Imrana are cutting nine bags previously used by miners. The material was then stitched together to serve as cover for the art installation.
3/5 Negotiating wood and nails
At the start, it was slightly difficult to communicate clearly about intentions and to find common goals. There were negotiations over the purchase of wood, the nails and the bags. A carpenter had to be found to build the wooden structure with which to cover the bags.
4/5 Constructing the woodwork, resembling a mine
The carpenter helps to build the wood construction around which the bags will be tied. The enclosed wooden structure symbolizes a shaft.
1/7 Artistic plastering
For Christophe plastering houses resembles the plastering of the art installation. There is a fine line between daily crafts and art.
3/7 Plastering earthly matters
The start of plastering the artwork with a plaster made of a mixture of paint and local earth. This ties the artwork to earthly matters, but also strengthens a resemblance between the act of colourful painting of the bags and the way in which women paint their houses.
4/7 Colourful conversations
Arriving at the stage of painting, the installation work gained momentum: Christophe and the women discussed cheerfully the similarities between their artistic work of painting and plastering houses and the painting of the bags.
7/7 Co-Labouring a total work of art
Arriving at the stage of painting, the installation work gained momentum: Christophe and the women discussed cheerfully the similarities between their artistic work of painting and plastering houses and the painting of the bags.
Decorating the canvas
After painting – almost plastering – the whole surface of the bags, women and youth were invited to decorate the painted bags with figures symbolizing aspirations for futures of the community and for themselves.
1-10/10 Envisioning futures
The installation work features birds, rivers, plants and a group of cattle to highlight aspects of the environment, which require care and constitute a source of wealth.
6/10 Freedom on a bicycle
One young man drew a bicycle to express that the world would be better with free mobility.
The art installation: many meanings
Christophe overseeing the installation which not only resembles a shaft, but also a house due to the plastering, and even more: the signs evoke possible futures. As a whole the art installation symbolizes the mining world at large, showing interconnections between mining, agriculture, individual aspirations, and environmental concerns. Thumbs up!
1-3/5 Making of a monument
One solemn meaning remained to be added to the art installation. It should become a work to commemorate the miners who had died underground. The art work transformed into a monument by adding the helmet and the torch which one of the miners from the South of Ghana, Benjamin, had brought along when joining the Gold Matters workshop.
4/5 The Monument and festive opening of the Exhibition
After the art installation was fully accomplished, and the photo exhibition ready for its opening – it is time to celebrate, to eat, to drink, to dance.
5/5 Follow-up tribute to the Miners
At home after the workshop, Nii Obodai reworked a photo of a detail of the monument. In this act he emphasized the importance to continue to commemorate the miners who had died in the underground accident.
Photography Workshop With Bonsa Basic Academy
Goldminer Joe Danka came to Kejetia in 2000. On realizing there was no school available for the children in the community, he set his mind on building one. For nine years, Bonsa Basic Academy was the only school in the area. The Workshop was facilitated by Mabel Senaa, a photographer affiliated to Nuku Studio.
1/3 Three students were chosen from the senior class (JHS 1 and 3) to take part in a three-day photography workshop. The workshop was to introduce students in this community (Kejetia) to begin to learn how to use photography as a tool for communication and journaling and to realize the potential of visual storytelling.
2/3 Stephen Sawalbi (JHS 3), Sheila Danka (JHS 3) and Beatrice Annor Mensah (JHS 1) were given cameras to produce images of their community, giving us snapshots of daily life. Their combined perspectives produced engaging and honest viewpoints, photography without an agenda, of life in a precarious environment.
1/3 Bonsa Basic Academy
The school was established in 2000 in Gbane. Its mud walls have stood the test of time. Many of its past students are now professionals working in other parts of Ghana.
2/3 Time for a break
Senior students relaxing in their classroom during break time.
Bonsa Basic Academy’s neigbour: Shaanxi Mining Company
Shaanxi Mining is a Chinese managed mining company. It shares walls with Bonsa Basic Academy and it exposes the students to the movement of heavy machinery. The mine has experienced quite a few fatal underground accidents in the last few years.
Students hangout in a store front during lunch break
Open Street Food
Next to Bonsa Basic Academy, children from the school gather around a street food seller to buy their lunch meal.
Water Bodies and Environmental Pollution
Much of the remaining ground water and rivers have either dried up or are heavily polluted. Whatever natural sources of water is available to Gbane’s community is used for domestic needs and mining production and because water is a shared and scarce resource this adds to the health stresses of the community.
1-2/3 Co-labouring
The women and children are co-labouring to sort and wash ore brought up from the underground. It is not unusual to see women and their children working side by side.
3/3 Take a break
Miners eat and work on tailings.
Processing
Processing equipment and other mining facilities are often situated very close to community housing.
