Join the University of Brighton for a lunchtime lecture and discussion with Ghanaian artist Dr Serge Attukwei Clottey, hosted by the School of Art and the Responsible Futures Research and Enterprise team. Clottey will share his ideas highlighting issues such as sanitation, politics, trade and migration, affecting our contemporary societies in Ghana and the African continent as his focus.

Clottey is an internationally exhibiting artist who explores personal and political narratives rooted in histories of trade and migration. Born 1985 in Accra (Ghana), he is widely known for his work utilising yellow gallon containers, which are at the base of his ‘Afrogallonism’ discourse. He works in a variety of mediums including performance, film, photography, sculpture and installation.

Through his “Afrogallonism” project, Clottey found that the yellow gallons that were initially brought in the country as oil jerry cans had become water storage materials in almost every home in his community due to the shortage of water. As time went by, these gallons were being disposed of carelessly in the community, and this became huge sanitation issue. So, he decided to identify ways to reduce the problem by collecting these disposed gallons and transform them into something different that could be reused in homes and art forms that could benefit his community. ‘Afrogallonism’ has now evolved into a community art project, through which many young peoples’ shared interest in expressing themselves creatively in the community grew.

Serge Clottey was awarded a University of Brighton Honorary Doctorate in Arts in August 2019 and is visiting the University as part of a series of activities aimed at fostering collaboration opportunities with staff and students. These are open to anybody interested, within the University and wider network. Please get in touch with Prof. Novelli should you wish to know more about these other activities M.Novelli@brighton.ac.uk

Image Credit: Nii Odzenma