ARTISTAlbert Nii Nortey

Albert Nii Nortey Dowuona – alniinod (b. 1987) lives and works in Accra, Ghana. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Art (B.F.A.) in Painting and Sculpture from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology   (KNUST), Kumasi in 2010. Nii Nortey is interested in discarded materials as objects embedded with certain narratives and histories. He makes use of African Wax Prints, newspapers and lotto papers in creating his works.

Nii Nortey has featured in a number of exhibitions including YBG Eco Arts Festival and Evolution of Science Exhibition, and GhScientific, both held at the Museum Of Science And Technology, Accra in 2019. In 2019, His work “In Loving Memory” featured in an article published in the Forbes Magazine: Artists and Scientists In Ghana Reflect On The Country’s Scientific Achievements by Eva Amsen.

Artist Statement 

In my practice over the years, I enjoy using discarded materials because they are embedded with certain narratives, having lived through different experiences. Materials I am fond of using are fabric, newspapers and audio-visuals. I am drawn towards the concept and philosophy of relations that I think leads to social influences, social identity complexities, segregation and class.

In my works, I intentionally and carefully select specific types of African wax print “with social names” giving to them by the market retailers and at the same time have serial numbers, codes and identification from the manufactures. I am interested in the fabric’s history; its origin, production, designs, consumers, usage, representation and its brand, the journey from the manufacturers to the consumers, how it’s received and how it’s used and what it represent to the manufacturer, the suppliers and supply-chain and consumers or users as well as those who admire the styles and designs of the fabric. 

By this, I am using the African wax print fabric as a metaphor to comment on the complex nature of social influence and social identities. Currently, I am exploring the idea of palimpsest – a buildup idea of the social influence and identity complexities where layers of the African wax print fabric and Lottery newspapers are applied simultaneously and overlapped on each other by juxtaposing and superposing then forcefully but intentionally rip-off the newspapers when dried to allow the designs and motif of the fabric to be visible. 

As the lottery newspapers come off, some portions firmly adheres to the fabric whiles portions of the fabric appears through the remains of the newspapers creating an amalgamation of the two materials. Though the two materials have different properties and contexts, they have been forced to stay together and become one in the same space. I am using these multi-layered records to examine my personal experiences and memories of my matrilineal and patrilineal parentage. On the amalgamated surface, I use dark shades to depict the shadows of my images making the images take the palimpsest created as their new body.