Aku Addy’s ‘stories from Accra’ captures the city’s charm and challenges

On Sunday, friends, patrons and art lovers gathered at the Velvet Hut Design Studio in Osu, to witness the solo exhibition and pop-up event by Aku Addy, of Wollo.

Wollo, which is the Ga word for paper, is a brand that specialises in artistic expressions and ideas, made available in the form of T-shirts, totes, key chains, pins, stickers, bookmarks, and others.

The brand’s perspective has always been shaped by its founder’s keen eye for recognising beauty in chaos, and celebrating imperfections.

The new collection, Stories From Accra, highlights the peculiarities of beloved town and cities in Accra in a fun, colourful, humorous series, but there is more than meets the eye.

For Aku, her work is not just about producing trendy pieces that sell, it is more about drawing out insights to highlight social issues and causes.

While this series shows off what puts each area/location on the map, it also prompts an enquiry into how these truths can impact business, policy and cause social change.

Labone’s restaurant craze makes it a hot bed for an upscale, urban clientele, which highlights a natural synergy between frequent diners and the need for health-conscious services, yet we rarely see targeted collaborations between these industries.

Spintex’s seemingly endless stretch of furniture stores enables frequent movement of heavy duty trucks, and this impacts traffic flow and infrastructure.
What does this mean for city planning?

East Legon’s concentration of beauty and fashion businesses asks that policymakers create initiatives that support and expand women-powered businesses and economies.

“Through this exhibition and Wollo’s work, I want people to think differently about our city. Accra is full of peculiarities, but within those quirks lie opportunities to reshape our society. Whether it’s through humor, art, or business insights, we can use storytelling to highlight what is there, what is missing, and what needs to change.”

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