Three Ghanaian Women in the arts Receives Awards

Three renowned Ghanaian women in the arts have received the wAi Africa Zola Trophy at a grand appreciation awards night at the West Africa Civil Society Institute in Accra organized by the Women’s Arts Institute Africa (wAi Africa)

The three recipients of the award are Gladys Adinyira Wuaku a sculptor, Akofa Edjeani Asiedu, filmmaker and Constance E. Swaniker, a sculptor.

In a welcome address, the Acting Executive Director of wAi Africa, Akwele Suma Glory noted that the arts are an expression of life and the convergence of different worlds presents an opportunity for refuelling the energies of the world. “Without the arts there will be no movement”. The world will be still and exist in silence and nothingness! The arts are the heart beat of life itself” she philosophized.

wAi Africa was set up in 2006 by two visionary women in the arts to build the capacities of African women’s arts groups at the country level and across Africa, linking the arts to development through multi-faceted approaches. She added that the beneficiaries of wAi Africa are all African women in the arts.
“wAi Africa is a product of the unlimited accomplishments of the mind. wAi Africa demands that all persons who get involve with it must have 100% positive attitude to life and its activities thereof. The individual should only make room for the possibility to succeed”, Ms Glory said
In a keynote address, the chairperson of the awards night, Professor Abena Busia, an accomplished writer and poet, said the question about women being in the arts is an important one. “Sometimes, we turn really to be confused about what it is to be an artist. We appreciate the arts but we seldom appreciate what it takes to become artists and artistes, to be able to create something. Especially becoming a professional in the arts”, she noted


Professor Abena Busia stated that in Africa, and Ghana, the arts are so much a part of who we are, such that we take it for granted. The way we talk, dance and dress. Our sense of assemblage, colour, form, being and even our sense of language; everything is so much a part of who we are that, sometimes we take for granted, the extra steps it takes for someone to do art professionally, to create something new.

“To be an artist requires not only that inspiration that I think all human beings actually have, but it requires extra step, that practice and diligence. Every one of us has a poem, but not every one of us is a poet. Every one of us has a design in us but not every one of us is a designer. The difference between those of us who see and think we can do it and those of us who do it, is the doing. But, the doing is what is difficult; the practice is what is difficult” she emphasized.


Prof Busia explained that what makes us artists and artistes is not seeing something and copying, but going back to it, deepening that sketched and thinking where this shadow lies, and how do I frame it this way. This aspect of diligence also requires support. All artists and artistes need to eat. And again this is what we take for granted.

The Professor in English Literature recounted that we all grew up learning about western traditions, western arts, but we forget that the famous artistes we know had patrons. They could not and would not have created all the arts we enjoy, if for example it was not decided that their creativity is needed for which they were paid. All of us need support in that sense and very few of us get supported.

Professor Busia said, for those of us who don’t get even supported in that sense, the other kind of support is very more crucial, and, “that is the support of people like you in this room”. “The people who when you say; I have written my first poem, will say, read it to me, the people who when you say; I am holding an exhibition, will schedule their time to be at your first exhibition. Indeed we need to learn to celebrate ourselves”.

She congratulated participants in the first Awards, and every year as this event grows and grows and grows; remember you were the seed that made it happen.

The first award recipient, Gladys Adinyira Wuaku was awarded for Outstanding National Commemorative Outdoor Piece in Ghana. The category demonstrates the impeccable handiwork of women when they decide to create. The May 9th 2003 stadium disaster national monument erected by Gladys Adinyira Wuaku gives 100’s of Ghanaians peace of mind in knowing that their beloveds didn’t die in vain.

The second award recipient, Akofa Adjeani Asiedu was awarded for Outstanding Cultural Myth in Ghana. The category evidences the many myths that surround women’s development in Africa. Akofa Edjeani Asiedu received the award because she funded the production of a female genital mutilation story into film, a platform that explicitly affords women the opportunity to tell that story of pain.

The final award recipient, Constance E. Swaniker was awarded for Outstanding Industrial Metal Furniture Firm in Ghana. The category is the signature of seven years of entrepreneurship. Her achievements assure women in the arts that Artists and Artistes can live off their creativity. Constance E. Swaniker gained the award for transforming her ideas and skills into a company, Accents and Arts, a growing market leader in wrought iron furniture in Ghana.

The wAi Africa “Zola” trophy is derived from the Agama symbol of mediation called Amedomezola. The award was designed gratis by Selasi Awusi Sosu, a Ghanaian glass sculptress. The trophy is composed of two interlocking circles at the apex supported by two outwardly curved stems at mid section. Rendered in wrought iron and finished in pine green and gold, the wAi Africa Zola trophy stands with poise.