Oku Ampofo was born in Mampong, Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1908. In 1932 he became the first Ghanaian to win the Gold Coast Government Medical Scholarship. Ampofo subsequently moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1933 and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, while taking night classes in sculpture at Edinburgh School of Art. Returning to Ghana in 1940 he founded the Akuapem Six, a group of artists advocating for an appreciation of indigenous and Akuapem art, as well as ‘healthy conditions for free expression of thought through the arts'. Ampofo worked with painted wood as well as with cement and terrazzo.
Sculptor and doctor, Oku Ampofo was born Edward Oku Ampofo on 4 November 1908 in Mampong, Gold Coast (now Ghana), the son of Chief Kwasi Ampofo and Madam Akua Adwo. In 1932 he won the Gold Coast Government Medical Scholarship, making him the first Ghanaian to ever win a government medical scholarship.
Ampofo subsequently moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1933 and studied medicine at both the University of Edinburgh and the medical Royal Colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow. At the same time he took night classes in sculpture at Edinburgh School of Art under sculptor Norman Forest, producing pieces depicting cultural and socio-religious aspects of the Ghanaian way of life, combining themes associated with traditional African life with a Western-derived abstraction. While living in the UK, Ampofo was able to tour European museums with major African art collections. He later commented: ‘It was as though the African had to go all the way to Europe to discover himself’(as cited in Ruwona 2021). Ampofo was in Sweden at the outbreak of the Second World War, where he carved a Death Mask (1939, Oku Ampofo Foundation) reflecting the frightening effects of the war on him.
In 1940 Ampofo returned to Ghana and established both an art studio and a medical clinic. He worked as a physician from 1940 until 1961, when he decided to dedicate his time to researching plant medicine as well as working on his art. As a sculptor, Ampofo worked with painted wood as well as with cement and terrazzo. He described his work as ‘a step in the direction of a further development of a typical African identity’ (as cited in MacClancy 1997, p. 37). Ampofo was an ardent supporter of the Pan-African movement and advocated for traditional styles as opposed to those influenced by Western art. He recruited artists practicing in different mediums throughout Ghana, which would later come to be known as the Akuapim Six. The aim of the group was to promote the appreciation of indigenous and Akuapem art as well as ‘healthy conditions for free expression of thought through the arts (Labi 2013). With the support of the British Council, the group organised the first national art exhibition in Ghana, New African Art, which premiered in 1946. The show was a major success and garnered a second iteration two years later. In 1958 Ampofo was elected a member of the Ghana Arts Council; he would go on to serve as chairman from 1969 to 1971. He presented a solo exhibition
Ampofo remained in Ghana after the military coup of 1966 and the subsequent military dictatorship, when many Ghanaian academics left the country. He charged nominal fees and on many occasions provided services for free to his rural patients as well as personally driving critically ill patients to hospitals in Accra. In 1975 he founded the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine. Born out of Ampofo’s studies of traditional African treatments, the Centre subsequently served as the official resource for the World Health Organization (WHO) on plant-based medicine. Ampofo’s sculptures were exhibited in Senegal, Nigeria, Israel, Brazil, and the USA. His sculpture Woe to You, Mother Earth , made after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, is displayed in the Africa Room at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, USA. Oku Ampofo died in Mampong, Ghana on 18 February 1988. His work is not currently represented in any UK public collections.