CREATING OUR OWN REALITY.

By Nii B. Andrews.

A pandemic of moral and intellectual sloth seems to have engulfed Ghana.

The old monsters that were once almost forcibly exorcized from and still relentlessly fought in Europe and other developed parts of the world, now sadly appear to be solidly entrenched in our country.

Instead of driving an age on enlightenment, by asking basic questions and providing rational answers to alleviate our harsh and largely disgraceful, retrogressive Ghanaian circumstances, we have adopted an alternative reality.

We have jettisoned meritocracy, rational thought, honest hard work and decent cultured living.

QUEEN: Edith Taรฏoni, acrylic on canvas, signed. Courtesy of the artist.

In its place; ethnicity, superstition, unbridled corruption, pernicious patronage and thuggery have been installed; and those that ought to know better rush to genuflect with fawning regularity and afterwards offer frivolous explanations for their “pragmatism”.

Where is all this going to lead us to?

It certainly cannot improve our educational system, or health care delivery, our medieval sanitation or our legal system or rogue financial system.

AKPATSE: Kwadwo Ani, acrylic on canvas, 162 x 147 cm, 2002. Private collection.

It is even having an adverse effect on our creative talents; it is stifling the imagination of our artists – especially the young ones.

They have become epigones of our first and second wave of renowned masters and a lot of them have resorted to a decorative prettiness in their work. This does not augur well for their future.

The prohibitive cost of basic art materials, the lack of institutional support coupled with their own poor understanding of professional art practice and the dynamics of the art market all impact negatively on their creative output.

NATIVE FIGURE GROUP/ UNTITLED: Albert Osabu Bartimeus, oil on board, 94 x 70 cm, 1966. Private collection.

One thing for sure; our national policies and actions/ inactions often appear foolish, unhinged and uncouth when we sit amidst huge natural resources, while still mired in poverty; having childish arguments – arguments, rarely based on facts, evidence and reason.

THE MIGRANT: Mahi Binebine, bronze 1/8, 180 ร—180 cm, 2016. Courtesy of Comptoir des Mines Gallery.

Burdened in the last 30 years with a political class that breeds itself and perpetuates incredible levels of arrogance and criminal irresponsibility; we also now have to deal with BANKsters who act with impunity while being coddled by their capos in the media and a dangerously irritating troop of borderline sociopathic religious figures – self proclaimed prophets/angels/pastors…and bishops!

AFRICAN DOLL: Nii K. Owoo, metal, signed. 1997. Private collection.

Kwadwo Ani vividly captures the corpulence of the so called religious types and their parasitic conduct in his painting AKPATSE. What else is new?

But being stuck in our collective head, we insist that our alternative reality is one of progress and our underachieving leaders, public officials and their rented press are always ready to produce risible statistics as evidence to back up the spurious claims.

Can we really afford to continue deceiving ourselves?

ART DECO STAIRCASE in refurbished hotel, Gueliz.

Are ignorance and dishonesty now the pillars of our country – and our own warped created reality?

No wonder enlightened people – within and without the country, look at our antics in bewilderment, with many convinced that we are the Wretched of the Earth.

That is the reality.

6 thoughts on “CREATING OUR OWN REALITY.”

  1. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿพ One really wonders if we’ve ‘lost it’ and if so, how to regain it.

  2. Beautiful piece!
    Carefully chosen but apt words & a great summary of our situation.
    Itโ€™s good that it has come at the beginning of a new year & hopefully a new era, so we can reflect & attempt to climb out of the abyss……๐Ÿ™๐Ÿพ

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