Where to Soak Up Accra’s Thriving Arts Scene, According to Painter Ludovic Nkoth

Welcome to Design Detours, a series where creative people whose tastes we trust share their well-curated, design-minded travel itineraries.

Last December, artist Ludovic Nkoth flew from New York to Accra for the opening of his friend Amoako Boafo’s buzzy new arts space, dot.ateliers. It doesn’t take a lot to convince the Cameroonian painter to visit Ghana’s capital. Not only does it remind him a bit of his birthplace, Yaoundé (Cameroon’s capital), but he also has a great network of creative friends who are deeply embedded in Accra’s arts scene. One such friend is Naïla Opiangah, a Gabonese painter and architect who currently lives between Accra and New York City. "We met in New York in 2019 while I was doing my MFA program," Nkoth says. They’ve kept in close contact ever since.

During Nkoth’s few days in Accra, Opiangah accompanied him around the city, taking him to galleries and open-air markets he knew from prior trips, and showing him less familiar spots, like newer restaurants. Nkoth also carved out time to visit some of his friends’ artist studios and enjoy the city’s lively nightlife. Here, Nkoth shares some of his favorite places to visit in Accra, including a bustling food and textile market reminiscent of the ones he frequented growing up in Yaoundé and a bold clothing pop-up from a dynamic emerging Ghanaian brand.

Day 1: Peruse Accra’s largest open-air market and shop for clothes inspired by Ghanaian street style

After Naila picked me up from the airport, we drove aimlessly around the city for a bit, since we hadn’t seen each other in a while, taking in all the sights and sounds. She drove me to Black Star Gate, a large cement monument with a five-pointed star that represents Africa in general, and Ghana specifically, in Black Star Square, built to celebrate the country’s independence. We then decided to go shopping for fabrics at Makola Market nearby in the city center. We have a similar market in Yaoundé; growing up I would go there for groceries or clothing. As you make your way through Makola, you are pulled from every corner by merchants trying to sell you goods—everything from fruits and baked goods to fabric and prepared meals. People go home with 12 bags. On this specific visit, I was looking for fabric for future projects. I was keen on seeing traditional textiles made by local artisan women, which have intricate, colorful patterns with geometrics grids and shapes. These fabrics have been used by the Bassa and Bamileke peoples in Cameroon. I love the use of colors. My mind was racing with ideas.

Next, we drove to a nearby clothing pop-up by Free the Youth, a Ghanaian brand made up of a collective of young creatives determined to empower African youth and showcase Ghanaian street style fashion and culture. The brand often hosts networking soirees for creatives from the diaspora. I was blown away by the designs, which often have political graphics and references.

For dinner, we went to one of Naila’s favorite Accra restaurants called Vine. It’s a beautiful space with a very tropical, greenery-filled atmosphere. A lot of the furniture is made from natural, organic material. The food is an elevated example of what’s happening in Ghana—a mix of traditional and contemporary, like tilapia cooked in banana leaf, and grilled prawns with mango salsa. I like that they’re tapping into the roots of the country.

After some much needed fuel, I finally got to my hotel, Kempinski.  It’s one of my favorite hotels in the city, mostly because it’s owned by a friend of mine. They have a beautiful compound in the middle of the building that’s like a garden. I love to sit there and drink ginger tea. I also like that the Kempinski houses a lot of art on the premises. The hotel has its own exhibition space called Gallery 1957, which often showcases local and regional artists. When I was there, paintings by Ghanaian artist Amet Kukubor were on view.

Day 2: Check out local artist studios and exhibits, then dance to Afrobeats and live music until sunrise

We started the day by visiting a few artist studios, including the studio of Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey. His studio looks like a huge installation of his work; it’s covered in different kinds of plastics, mostly cut up recycled water jugs that he found around Ghana and repurposed for his weavings. We also went to the opening weekend of dot.ateliers, the artist residency, foundation, and exhibition space founded by my friend Amoako Boafo, a Ghanaian painter and visual artist. The space showcases Amoako’s work alongside other Ghanaian artists, like Eric Adjei Tawiah, David Aplerh-Doku Borlabi, Crystal Yayra Anthony, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Kwesi Botchway, and Cornelius Annor. For the launch, Boafo and his team organized a weekend of arts programming and live performances around Accra.

After the opening, a few of us went to a private dinner where my friend Moses Sumney, a Ghanaian-American musician, performed. Afterward, we went to a place where we usually end our nights called Front Back. By day, it’s a quaint lounge space, but it really comes to life at night. They have this huge backyard and often have live performances by local musicians. They play a lot of Afrobeats and Amapiano. When you’re there, you dance until sunrise. Let’s just say, dancing is the only way to end nights in Accra.

Day 3: Wander the streets and pop into local bars—or barbershops—before bidding Accra farewell

Whenever I’m in town, I love going to a local barbershop to get freshened up. You can find them all over Accra. The more local the barbershop, the better—usually, it’s a small cubicle on the side of the road, where the front has paintings depicting different hairstyles. Barbershops make for good people-watching and eavesdropping. Sometimes I even leave with a few kernels of wisdom.

After, I grabbed a drink with some friends at Palm Moments, a popular watering hole on Otswe Street. The space feels very local because of the crowd, but also because of the setup. You walk in and there’s this chalkboard where they write what’s on the menu. Every time I walk up to a place like this, I know that someone’s mother is in the kitchen. We had pepe soup (a traditional West African spicy soup with beef) with Ghanaian fufu and some jollof rice. 

Before leaving, I went to the rooftop bar at Kempinski for a poolside margarita. The pool is surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrellas; from my seat, I could see the blue sky for miles. Accra holds such a special place for me. It’s so inspiring to see how the young communities here have carved out a space that really feels like their own. My visits are always so fulfilling—very few places in the world leave me feeling so nurtured.

Top photos courtesy of Ludovic Nkoth

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