Zohra Opoku is a visual artist who approaches the abstraction of identity with sensitivity, intention, and tangibility. Opoku creates installations, performances, sculptures, videos, and photographs to explore the formation of her personal identity within the context of contemporary Ghana. Utilising visual languages that both define and disguise identity, she employs within her practice a variety of textiles and textures, from denim and thread to bed sheets and tablecloths. Opoku addresses socio-political influences on fashion in African history and dissects traditional Ghanaian dress codes, thus ultimately revealing narratives that tell the story of the complex identity and industry that permeate Africa’s history.

Through photography, alternative photo processes, and screen printing, Opoku often connects to her work by placing images directly onto fabric. She also experiments with a variation of new and found wood, textiles, and garments, which she then composes into installations that speak to their environment. Threading her personal history within socio-political contexts, Opoku weaves family heirlooms and her own self-images into her examination of Africa’s cultural history.

For AB7, Opoku will be presenting a new body of work from her project The Myths of Eternal Life. Entirely created while on residency in Dakar, the artist’s new work explores how her art practice can serve as a source of both healing and transformation. For this latest work, Opoku investigates the afterlife with a particular focus on the mysticism of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Opoku views the fragments of body parts present within the work featured in The Myths of Eternal Life as a visual metaphor for the resilience of the human spirit.

“I have arisen from my egg which is in the lands of the secrets. I give my mouth to myself (so that) I may speak with it in the presence of the gods of the Duat. My hand shall not be turned away from the council of the great god Osiris, Lord of Rosetau, this one who is at the top of the dais. I have come (so that) I may do what my heart desires in the Island of Fire, extinguishing the fire which comes forth.”, 2020
Screenprint on linen, thread, 212 x 156 cm 
Variations 3 + 2 (EV 1/3)
Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim

“I have my mouth to speak, my legs to proceed, my arms to make my enemies fall. The two entrances in the earth are opened for me. Geb the prince of the gods, has opened his jaws for me (and) my eyes which were blocked; he stretches out my legs which were crooked; Anubis strengthens my thighs. I am raised up indeed (and) Sakhmet the goddess who exists in the sky stretches me out…”, 2020 
Monotype print on canvas screenprint applications, thread, 132 x 258 cm
Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim

“They speak to me. Who are you?, they say to me. What is your name?, they say to me. I am the spike of the underside of the papyrus clump. The one who is in the moringa-tree (is) my name. You passed through what?, they say to me. I passed through a town north of the moringa tree...”, 2020 
Screenprint on linen, thread, 135.5 x 149 cm
Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim