Viewing Serge Attukwei Clottey: Crossroads

Crossroads by Serge Attukwei Clottey at Simon Lee will be the artists inaugural exhibition with the gallery. Primarily using found material from the streets or Accra and Ghana, in this exhibition Clottey explores his relationship between his Ghanaian identity and Western culture. Created between Accra and Los Angeles, the works in this exhibition consider Ghana’s complex history with international exchange and migration, contemplating notions of subjectivity, identity, and home. Clottey’s traditional medium of ‘Afrogallonism’ is at the centre of this exhibition, which will also debut a suite of oil paintings rendered on duct tape and cork board. The paintings extend upon the legacy of West African portrait photographers of the 1950s/ 60s and 70s, and reveal select motifs such as intricately patterned backdrops and affected postures. With recent public art works revealed at Kew Gardens and The Line in London in 2022, the exhibition allows audiences to delve deeper into Clottey’s practice and ponder with him how Ghana’s relationship to the West has evolved in the last 50+ years.