By Hans-Georg Eilenberger

The foundation for contemporary art last week presented the outgoing French ambassador in Accra H. E. Pierre Jaquemot a sculpture piece by the Nigerian Kola Joseph.

This is in recognition of his massive support for the foundation over the past few years. H. E. Jaquemot has been personally involved in the activities of the FCA and has donated a number of goods to the resource center of the foundation.

Presenting the sculpture at a brief ceremony at the WEB Dubois Center in Accra, the director of the FCA Adwoa Amoah expressed her appreciation for the continuous support of H. E. Jaquemot and other diplomats who have supported the foundation in one form or the other.

In a brief speech H. E. Jaquemot commended the foundation for each role in the development and promotion of contemporary art in Ghana adding that the foundation should strive to work hard to ensure that contemporary art in Ghana attracts the attention of art promoters in Europe, the United States and other parts of Africa.

Earlier Prof. Steven Feld, a distinguished professor of anthropology and music at the University of New Mexico USA, had given a Powerpoint description of an exhibition of works created in Ghana by Virginia Ryan.

Ryan, who is the wife of a former Italian ambassador to Ghana, received a lot of inspiration during her stay in Ghana and created these works out of her concerns for the preservation of the environment and the development of contemporary art in Ghana.

The young contemporary musician Bela Botri, who is noted for his skills on the atenteben donated a flute to the outgoing French ambassador. He said this simple wooden instrument could be used to do amazing things with music adding that his support to the arts in Ghana was not limited only to the visual arts but also to music.

According to Botri, the ambassador invited him and his group to play the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” with Ghanaian traditional instruments. Since then, he continued other embassies in Ghana have approached to play their national anthems with Ghanaian traditional instruments.

He thanked the French embassy in Accra for sponsoring their recent tour of Mali, Niger, Togo, Mauritania, and Guinea by his group “Hewale Sounds” and other performances throughout Ghana.

A few members of “Hewale Sounds” played a few of their compositions in honour of the outgoing ambassador. Present at the colourful program were several members of the FCA.