friend, let’s go
i’m at my desk, staring at the cursor, and wondering what the proper version of this story is. when and why did i decide to go to accra? did i plan on going to see chale wote? did i find what i was searching for? what am i searching for? am i even searching for anything?
chale wote is a ghanaian week-long festival that celebrates fashion, art, and culture. i’ve read a thing or two about it, so when a friend asked me to come see the last day at independence square, i added it to my flimsy list of reasons to pack my bag and get on the lagos to accra bus.
like any good festival, chale wote has its beauty and grace and culture, but what i found to be different at chale wote is the call to be bold. the boldness to try alternative art formats in such a mainstream space, the boldness to take up space, to make noise. culture is being revered, but also being created. some of this boldness — and i will not mention specifically which — did not sit well with me, but then the thing does not care about my thoughts on its existence. It just existed. this boldness invites me, the audience, to also be bold. it begs me to ask questions and engage with strangers. it compels me to also take up space.
i am fascinated by the name of the festival, which is a ga term for “friend/mate/chap, let’s go.” it is also the term for a flip-flop that is popular/important to the Ghanaian society. there are essays that better attempt to dissect the cultural significance of this name and festival — yet i’ve found them not enough. i am severely underqualified as an expert on this semantics, but perhaps good enough to thread my own observations.
what i find fascinating about the festival is that it asks you to let go and let’s go — almost quite literally. to move, barring the consequences. as someone with a lot of agency in my professional life but little to no agency in my personal life, the decisions that led to me being at chale wote are something i am still trying to understand. but, at chale wote, i do not care how i got here. i am here now, and i am one with this thing that feels like good chaotic motion.
the people of chale wote, borrowing toni morrison’s words, stand at the edge and claim it as center. they/we create something that compels you to let your ego fade and be part of something that’s both ghanaian and global, which is a rare experience for me, coming from where i feel culture has been swallowed by capitalism. i’ve always assumed globalization to be capitalism in disguise, but it is not at this festival. ghana is one of those places i go to find culture that is still rooted in culture first, and perhaps a longer list of other things before commercialization. and when commercialization does enter the conversation, it is commerce, not capitalism.
this, perhaps, is also what i found lacking in the essays i’ve read about the festival. the essays i read attempt to sell a festival that does not want or need to be sold. they focus too much on the big, important terms, too much on the isms and tions, and not nearly enough on how it feels to experience chale wote. my images are an attempt to document chale wote’s purity in cultural intention.
this foreword is getting long. there is simultaneously nothing and too much to say. i am happy if seeing these images makes you think half as much as taking them made me.
enjoy!
post notes
- of all materials i’ve consumed on the festival, i recommend Nataal’s intent documentation of an earlier version of the festival, which from the images i see happened around the osu castle — which i think would have been the ultimate experience.
- you should follow the official social media channels of the festival, on instagram, twitter, tiktok, and anywhere else you find them. you can also find other contact details and itinerary for this year’s edition of the festival here.
- if you’re pixel-peeper (which i also am when it comes to my own pictures), then i’m sorry for the quality of these images. i shoot with a kit lens.
