The 'Ghana must go' moniker arose from various expulsions of immigrants that Ghana and Nigeria engaged in between the 1960s and 1980s. Those who fled often packed their entire belongings in particularly patterned, woven plastic bags, with days and sometimes hours of notice before deportation. Through a performative essay and week long installation, Odunlami interrogates "poverty culture," tracing the 'Ghana must go' pattern as it exists in history from caricatures of peasantry to popular fashion trend.
This collaborative installation and performance by Nigerian SAIC graduate student Abbéy Odunlami, and SAIC professor Faheem Majeed, was held on Saturday afternoon September 7th, at Sacred Keepers Youth Garden on 48th and King Drive in Bronzeville. As I approached this performance, the phrase you have to see it to believe it certainly applied. There was gathering of about 50 eclectic dressed people all patiently seated in neatly arranged steel folding chairs facing a elevated wooden stage in front of a one room shack built from found objects in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The center piece of this installation is a shack completely covered in plaid Ghanian fabric. As you enter, the shack has three windows, one window has a mirror below it facing the audience which creates an interesting effect of allowing you to watch the audience visual expressions while Abbey speaks. The floor is lined with large pillows of the same fabric, and the melodic music of 'Fela' is loudly playing from a boom box in the corner. The guests all enter with a curious smile appearing to question the significance of these objects and how they may relate to current world events. This anxious look of curiosity is quickly put to rest once Faheem introduces Abbey and his insightful explanation of the complications of "poverty culture." This was a wonderful event with creative and positive people expressing their ideas on cultural identity, and its impact on our global economy.
photo montage by Tony Smith
