Sunsum Sessions –
Architecture
Accra, 6th March 2018
The ingenuity of architect Alero Olympio, world-renowned architect Sir David Adjaye, veteran designer and former Drum covergirl Ophelia Akiwumi, structures of food in chef Selassie Atadika’s work, musician Nii Noi Nortey’s architectural jazz structures.
David Adjaye
Sir David Adjaye OBE is recognized as a leading architect of his generation. Adjaye was born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents and his influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and the civic life of cities. In 1994, he set up his first office, where his ingenious use of materials and his sculptural ability established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision. He reformed his studio as Adjaye Associates in 2000. The firm now has offices in London, New York and Accra with projects in the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His largest project to date, the $540 million Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, opened on the National Mall in Washington DC in fall of 2016 and was named Cultural Event of the Year by the New York Times. Other prominent completed work include the Idea Stores in London (2005), which were credited with pioneering a new approach to library services, the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2010), the Sugar Hill mixed-use social housing scheme in Harlem, New York (2015); and the Aishti Foundation retail and art complex in Beirut (2015). Prominent ongoing projects include a new home for the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, a new headquarters building for the International Finance Corporation in Dakar, and the just-announced National Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London. In 2017, Adjaye was recently knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to Architecture, following the previous award of an OBE in 2007. The same year, he was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people of the year by TIME magazine. He has additionally received the Design Miami/ Artist of the Year title in 2011, the Wall Street Journal Innovator Award in 2013 and the 2016 Panerai London Design Medal from the London Design Festival. Adjaye is known for his frequent collaborations with contemporary artists on installations and exhibitions. Most notably, he designed the 56th Venice Art Biennale with curator Okwui Enwezor (2015). The Upper Room, featuring thirteen paintings by Chris Ofili (2002), is now part of the permanent collection of Tate Britain. Further examples include Within Reach, a second installation with Ofili in the British pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2003) and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art for the 21st Century Pavilion that was designed to show Your Black Horizon, a projection work by Olafur Eliasson, at the 2005 Venice Biennale.
Ophelia Akiwumi
Ophelia Akiwumi started her education in Ghana and Nigeria before going to England to continue Huyton College. On completion, she trained at the Paris Academy of Fashion London, worked with various fashion houses and modeled for some prominent photographers and magazines including Drum Magazine. She returned to Ghana in 1963 and married Ambassador A.O Akiwumi. She was one of the first women to open a wax print specialized boutique in Ghana. She also created haute couture garments, and turned to interior design in 1976 with an internship at two of the top design firms in Italy, Sateur and Cesari. She created Art Deco on her return to Ghana in 1993, she works withe lesser known species of woods, such as Bamboo and Yaya to avoid overfilling and scarcity. She incorporates Ghanaian classical signs and fabrics. Ophelia believes that the human body is dynamic and endevours to design furniture and interiors that mimic movement to reflect this concept.
Selassie Atadika
After over a decade spent engaged in humanitarian work, in some difficult parts of the world with various international organizations and years of self-teaching in the culinary arts, Selassie Atadika completed course work at the Culinary Institute of America. A founding member of Trio Toque, the first nomadic restaurant in Dakar, Senegal, she brought her innovative approach to African cuisine back home in 2014 to introduce them through Midunu, a nomadic dining concept in Accra which celebrates Africa’s culinary heritage in what she calls, ‘New African Cuisine’. Selassie Atadika was featured on CNN African Voices as well as mentioned in Vogue, National Geographic’s The Plate, Entrepreneur Magazine and Ebony. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography modified with Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College and over 10 years experience with the United Nations. Midunu is a culinary lifestyle company with an eye towards celebrating Africa’s cultural and culinary heritage whose goal is to create experiences where culture, community and cuisine intersect, reminiscent of earlier times while creating new memories. Midunu selects local and seasonal ingredients along with some of the more traditional grains and proteins to translate Africa’s bounty to the table. They achieve this goal through nomadic events, special events, private dining, retail and lifestyle products and a bespoke event space.
Nii Noi Nortey
Nii Noi Nortey is a multi-instrumentalist performing on both African instruments (e.g., alghaita, gyil, gonje, ngoni, seprewa) and Western ones (saxophones and flutes), as well as unique instruments of his own invention (afrifons, alboita). He is also a sound sculptor, author, educator, and arts library administrator whose base these last twenty-five years is Anyaa Arts Library, outside Accra, Ghana. In the UK Nii Noi is known for his performances and recordings with, among others, Dade Krama, African Dawn, David Panton, and Misty N Roots. In Ghana he has worked with well-known local artists like Ghanaba (Guy Warren), Pan African Orchestra, and Nii Otoo Annan, as well as visiting artists from Europe and the US. Some of his work of the last ten years is documented on the Accra Trane Station DVDs and CDs on the Voxlox label and in the book Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra by Steven Feld. Among written publications, he has recently produced Afrifonix: The Windpipes of Nii Noi Nortey, which chronicles the evolution of his afrifon inventions.
Alero Olympio
Alero Olympio was a brilliant and talented architect who was based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and also practiced extensively in Ghana. She gained international acclaim for her body of work, and was particularly known for her use of laterite as a building material. Her work included the design and construction of adobe style buildings using local woods, stones and laterite. She often gave lectures on her architectural philosophy and the use of local materials.
