Simply Iconic Travels to KNUST Museum

A diversity of audiences visit the Simply Iconic exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra

A play with scale was very important in the display strategy in the Simply Iconic echibition at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra

Artistic intervention, by Fredrick Botchway, MFA student of KNUST. Botchway uses archival images in creating giant-sized paintings using a combination of paints and cooking oils

COVID-19 protocols were keenly observed during the exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra

Nii Yemo Nunoo poses by a self-portrait, taken when he was 15 years old

The public had the opportunity to re-live some of the vintage images by posing in a studio space set up in the exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra

Visitors to the exhibition Simply Iconic spend some time discussing work on display at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra

The KNUST Museum will soon host the photography exhibition titled “Simply Iconic: Images off the Beaten Path”. The exhibition originally opened on 27th February – 31st March, 2021 at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra, Ghana, and was curated by Bernard Akoi-Jackson, a lecturer at the Department of Painting and Sculpture at KNUST. The show was organised by the Heritage Photo Lab (hosted by the J.H. Kwabena Nketiah Archives located in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon).

“Simply Iconic” essentially displays a selection of photographs capturing the optimism and everydayness evident in Ghana’s post-Independence years between the 1950s and the 70s. The exhibition included nostalgic photographs as well as artistic interventions by Malik Adjetey, Vera Obeng, and Fredrick Botchway.

The staging of the traveling exhibition at the KNUST Museum (Opoku Ware II Museum) is occasioned by the 70th anniversary celebrations of KNUST. Therefore the exhibition’s selection of archival photographs will be supplemented with rare photographs of personalities, architecture, still life, and photo journals documenting the early Republican years of KNUST obtained from the University Reprography Unit.

All photos by Elolo Bosoka, courtesy of Bernard Akoi-Jackson.