THE VEIL, 2024

The Veil is a sculpture and art installation created by a group of Ghanaian artists as the outcome from the workshop with Sandro Masai and Bright Ackwerh. It is also a collaboration with Ghana Venskab and YEFL Ghana under the theme “Expressing Sustainability” in 2024.

Production history:

Nuku Studio, Tamale, Ghana 08/08/2024 – 15/08/2024 – Workshop on conceptual art and sustainability

Nuku Studio, Tamale, Ghana 15/08/2024 – 25/10/2024 – Exhibition

Nordjyllands Kunstnerværksted, Aalborg, Denmark, 30/08/2024 – Exhibition and artist talk

Kunsthal Nord // Turbinegalleriet, Aalborg, Denmark, 13/09/2024 – 06/11/2024 – Exhibition

Veil [noun]| UK /veɪl/ US /veɪl/

Definition 1: a piece of thin material worn mostly by women to cover the face or head.

Example: the community wore a multicoloured veil made from pieces of imported used clothing that covered all but their eyes.

Definition 2: something that prevents you from knowing what is happening:

Example: we want to lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds government decisions and negative societal norms that impact us negatively.

Definition 3 [verb]: the act of covering, concealing or disguising a thing.

Example: we are veiling the badly managed trash created in our community, hopefully the trash miraculously disappears after.

The Veil is a thought-provoking Conceptual art piece that is inspired by traditions and customs of Northern Ghana, where veils carry profound cultural and symbolic significance.

Veils serve not only as a physical barrier, offering women privacy and protection from the harsh elements, but also as a metaphorical shield, concealing the wearer’s identity from the outside world. Veils also represent modesty, allowing women to shield their beauty to the world. In this art piece, the veil is reimagined on a global scale to address one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change.

This artwork serves as a powerful commentary on the current global response to environmental degradation, particularly plastic pollution. By creating a veil large enough to cover the world, “The Veil” symbolically highlights humanity’s tendency to mask, rather than confront, the true scale of the environmental crisis.

It illustrates the irony of using the very materials that contribute to pollution—discarded clothes, often made from synthetic, non-biodegradable fibers—to create a shield that obscures the damage being done to our planet. The veil thus becomes a poignant symbol of denial and the need to break free from superficial solutions.

Making “The Veil” involved a collaborative effort on many levels and stands as a reminder of the consequences of inaction and the need for genuine, sustainable solutions to global environmental challenges.

This presentation is the result of a 5-day workshop on Conceptual Art by the Ghana Venskab (Ghana Friends) and YEFL Ghana under the Art of Change activity as part of the Empowerment for Life (E4L) Program, facilitated by Afro-Brazilian artiste, Sandro Masai and Ghanaian artist, Bright Ackwerh at Redclay and Nuku Studios in Tamale.

Participants of the workshop came from diverse communities in the Northern Region and from different artistic disciplines to add their voice to the growing #ClimateAction discourse.

Workshop participants:

Abass Safian

Abdul-Hakim Zakaria

Abdul Raafi Mohammed

Abdul Rasheed Ibrahim

Abdul Rashid Imtiaz Nagumsi

Abdul Rashid Mohammed

Abdulai Alhassan

Adigiba Iddrisu Tanko

Appiah Opare-Atakora

Alhassan Abdul Fatawu

Alhassan Abdul Ganiyu

Asmaila Rahinatu

Emmanuella Webadua Kubaloe

Firdaus Abdul-Razak

Hamdia Amadu

Mavis Tumawoo

Najaat Hussein

Pascalina Bamirima Yidana

Suleiman Nimbang

Tashiru Tahiru

Yakubu Abdul Wasiu

Yakubu Matina

Yussif Nuhu

Zakari Abdul Hakeem

Media/Documentation/Photography:

Abass Safian

Abdul-Hakim Zakaria

Abdul Raafi Mohammed

Ernest Sackitey

Ofori

Gideon Asmah

Appreciation:

Mohammed Abdul-Jabaru

Juliet Shola Adabre

Bright Ackwerh – Workshop facilitator

Sandro Masai – Workshop facilitator

SUPPORT:

Empowerment for Life Team

Lise Grauenkær – Ghana Venskab

Abdul-Ganiyu Alhassan – Ghana YEFL

Abdul-Hakim Zakaria – Local coordinator

Workshop venues:

Redclay – Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art

Nuku Studio

The Veil at Kunsthal Nord, Aalborg, Denmark

Inspiration: