Gallery 1957 opens its London space with a solo show by Ghanaian painter Kwesi Botchway. Entitled Becoming As Well As Being and co-curated by renowned writer and curator Ekow Eshun, the exhibition considers the impossibility of representing a singular identity, narrative or idea of beauty in relation to the black experience.

The emerging artist’s bright, uplifting portraits are steeped in confidence and pride. Drawing on tropes of 19th century French Impressionism and his appreciation of African social realism today, Botchway’s acrylic on canvas works document contemporary African culture, taking art lovers through the personalities around him as well as of his imaginations.

“Kwesi Botchway is an artist of compelling vision whose paintings speak of the richness and complexity of black lives,” says Eshun. “These are bold, conceptual works that suggest black identity as fluid not fixed and multiple not singular. They are portraits that capture blackness, in the words of Stuart Hall, as a state of ‘becoming as well as being’.”

Botchway was born in Accra and studied at Ghanatta College of Art and Design before relocating to Frankfurt to continue his studies at the Academy of Visual Arts. Gallery 1957 hosted his first solo show, Dark Purple is Everything Black, at their Accra space earlier this year and the artist is also founder of WorldFaze, a studio and residency supporting local artists.

He created this latest body of work in Nima, a suburb of the Ghana’s capital, during the Covid-19 lockdown. “I had to be alone and speak to my friends online. But some of the inspiration I also got from just looking outside my window. Some of them are my friends, others are strangers and some are just people I’ve seen online,” he says. “I was inspired by the everyday life of black people.”

From a couple frolicking in swimwear to a calm portrait of Eshun to two young women in a fond embrace, these are paintings that, in the artist’s words, highlight “the wealth and complexity of black lives”. The largest and most overt work in the show captures a Black Lives Matter protest in a moment of triumph. “As the protests were happening, I felt it was something I had to document,” Botchway says. “It’s part of our life as black people. It’s part of history.”

Kwesi Botchway, Becoming As Well As Being, is on view until 5 December 2020 at Gallery 1957, London

Words Benewaah Boateng

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Published on 03/11/2020