Atta Kwami was born in Accra, Ghana in 1956, studying painting at the University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and later earning a PhD in art history from the Open University, Milton Keynes, England in 2007. Kwami is best known for his abstract artworks rooted in the vibrant urban landscape of Kumasi, with the patterns in his paintings informed by the creations of local street artists seen on kiosks, storefronts, billboards, and murals, as well as the traditional 'kente' cloth of the Asante people of Ghana.
Painter, printmaker and sculptor, Atta Kwami was born in Accra, Ghana on 14 September 1956. He was first introduced to the arts through his mother, Grace Salome Kwami, a talented sculptor, painter and weaver, who profoundly influenced his artistic development. Kwami fondly recalled watching as she constructed ‘boxes in which to carry our rulers, books, pencils […] on top of each box, she glued a colour print of a tree in a landscape with a blue sky. The visceral impact of those boxes and how they were made is embedded in my memory’ (Apollo Magazine). As a teenager, Kwami attended the prestigious Achimota School, where he was tutored in weaving and other art disciplines by an Ewe master. He subsequently pursued painting at the University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi (1976–80), a city celebrated as the cultural heart of the Asante region. After teaching art in southeast Nigeria, he returned to Kumasi in 1986, teaching painting and printmaking at KNUST for the next two decades. Concurrently, he divided his time between Kumasi and Loughborough, England, maintaining studios in both places. Kwami earned his diploma from the Royal College of Art in London in 1993, before receiving a PhD in art history in 2007 from the Open University for his research on modern Ghanaian artists. This was later published as Kumasi Realism, 1951–2007: An African Modernism (Hurst & Company, 2013). Kwami described 'Kumasi Realism' as a style of representational art influenced by a variety of elements, including photography, advertising, graphic design, both European and Ghanaian history and culture, as well as contemporary social issues.
Kwami's abstract artworks were rooted in the vibrant urban surroundings of Kumami, with the patterns in his paintings informed by the creations of local street artists, as seen on kiosks, shopfronts, hoardings, and murals. His inspiration also came from the intricately hand-decorated canoes of the Fante people and the patterns on West African pottery. Kwami regarded his brightly coloured, geometric works as a 'smokescreen' for the creation of something new (Artforum). He preferred his art being labeled as 'schematic' instead of 'abstract', explaining that 'there is a very precise, knowable set of resources at the back of it; like a map, or rather a reaction to or interpretation of a map. It is about ownership, a way to finding myself, where I am. The outcome of a series of engagements between practices, forms and visual environments that are specific to me in Ghana’ (Apollo Magazine 2021). His compositions, characterised by geometric strips, stripes, and grids, delved into themes of migration and assimilation. The way he arranged space within his works was similar to the aesthetic of kente cloth, a type of textile created by sewing together narrow strips of cloth, associated with Ghana's Asante people. Taking inspiration from West African kiosks, Kwami created archway sculptures as enlarged three-dimensional paintings meant to be displayed in open-air spaces. These were born from his aspiration to 'transform ordinary objects into magnificence' and to initiate 'a conversation in architectural space' (Loughborough University), in which passers-by were encouraged to participate. In 2003, he created the artist's book Grace Kwami Sculpture (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art) as a tribute to his mother. The book's pages were designed to reference the legs of Kweku Ananse, a spider character from West African folklore, symbolising wit and skill, metaphors for the artistic abilities of Kwami's mother. The book was displayed at the School of Oriental Studies, London in 2003. In 2002, Kwami curated Kumasi Junction at Oriel Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno, Wales, where he displayed his own paintings alongside those of 11 sign painters from Ghana. He held solo exhibitions at Beardsmore Gallery, London (2006, 2014), University of Cambridge (2012), and the World Museum, Liverpool (2015), among others. He was a research fellow (2012–2013) at Wolfson College, Cambridge, working with the Cambridge/Africa Collaborative Research Programme. Kwami received the 2021 Maria Lassnig Prize, which was organised by the Serpentine Galleries in London.
Atta Kwami died in Loughborough, England on 6 October 2021. At the time of his death, he was working on the public art commission part of the Maria Lassnig Prize, the mural em>Dzidzɔ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace), 2021–22, which Kwami had started as a painting shortly before. The mural, painted by his wife, artist Pamela Clarkson, after his death, reflected Kwami's distinctive vibrant colour palette and flowing abstract style. Its title is in Ewe, a West African language spoken by Kwami, and composition, played with colour and form improvisations that are hallmarks of Ghanaian architecture and kente cloth. Kwami’s work is represented in the UK public domain in collections including the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Liverpool Museum. His archway sculptures Atsiaƒu ƒe agbo nu (Gateway to the Sea) and Dusiadu (EveryTown) are displayed on the Loughborough University campus.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Atta Kwami ]
Publications related to [Atta Kwami ] in the Ben Uri Library