Opening Reception: Kofi Pare, a Photographic Essay

On May 17th, 2012, in collaboration with the Dei Center for Contemporary Art, the opening reception for Kofi Pare, A Photographic Essay was held in Accra, Ghana. Kofi Pare is an art exhibition that utilizes vernacular photography to represent the spirit of communities. The images explore the importance, essence, and spirituality of village life and its lasting impression on the contemporary and the global. The exhibition is a tribute by Seth Kwasi Dei, a prominent entrepreneur and art collector, to Kofi Pare, a small cocoa farming village in the Eastern Region of Ghana where he grew up. Kofi Pare, a community of 3,000, is named after one of its founding fathers, a migrant cocoa farmer from Aburi who bought the land from the chief of the nearby town of Akantin in 1912. Featured in the exhibition is a timeless collection of photographs of the entire village, some of which date back to the early 1900′s when the village was founded.