Meet the Judges: The imagining Early Accra competition
The imagining Early Accra competition aims to encourage and recognise creativity in the use and/or interpretation of archival material about, concerning and related to Accra, Ghana in the late 1940s to 1950s.
Submissions to the imagining Early Accra competition will be evaluated by a panel of eight judges from a variety of backgrounds with extensive experience and expertise in different artforms, creative outputs and archival research. We are pleased to introduce the Panel of Judges for the competition.
Kirstie Kwarteng is currently a doctoral candidate at SOAS University of London, and has expertise in research and Ghanaian history as well as first hand knowledge of working with and creating digital archives. She is the founder of The Nana Project and was named as Ghana's Top 30 under 30 for her work in preserving Ghana's history.
Emmanuel Kusi Ofori-Sarpong is a lecturer, researcher and architect who analyses histories and theories of the Ghanaian built environment. He lectures at the School of Architecture and Design (SADe) in Central University, and is currently working on a series of studies that explore endogenous ideas of ideal urbanism and how local agency shapes urban spatial outcomes.
Roberta Edem Abbeyquaye is a multimedia journalist and curator who has years of experience producing and curating high-level multimedia content for leading media organisations around the world. She was one of a few women artists selected by the African Women’s Development Fund, to exhibit her photography work bothering on body positivity and LGBT+ pride, in celebration of International Women’s day.
Jude Nyoagbe is a designer and virtual reality artist who brings architecture design and visualisation to new dimensions. He is the co-founder of RDVS Design, a multi-disciplinary design studio which provides design and visualisation services towards building construction, marketing, design and production needs.
Ngminvielu Kuuire is an award-winning photographer who has been responsible for powerful portraits that challenge ideas of gender, as well as important art installations in Accra public spaces. She was awarded the Portraits Ghana Photography Prize in 2017, organised by The Embassy of Netherlands in Ghana and Nuku Studio.
Augustine Owusu-Ansah is an architect at S. Tetteh + Associates whose keen interest in visual identity and public space has contributed to iconic buildings and spaces such the Advantage Place office complex for the Enterprise Group Ltd, Records Centre for Ghana Revenue Authority and the competition-winning entries for the Judicial Training Institute.
Ama Asantewa Diaka, is a poet, writer and visual artist. as well as a creator of artistic platforms whose artistic expression cuts across poetry, literature, visual art and music. She is the founder of Tampered Press and Yobbing, co-founder of Black Girls Glow, and author of You too will know me and Woman eat me whole, (forthcoming from Eccobooks)
Keni Ribeiro is a writer and documenter of Ghanaian stories who advocates for the creative arts to be included in the Ghanaian educational system. She has documenting Ghanaian experiences in fictional short stories on her award-winning website www.kenikodjo.com for the last 6 and half years.