- This topic is empty.
-
Ghana’s Kojo Marfo: Sell-out show for butcher-turned-painter
Kojo Marfo is เล่น slotxo a butcher-turned-artist determined to tell the world about the importance of cows.
“The cow builds civilisations,” says Marfo. “In Ghana we use them to plough the land and if you have two to three animals, you can get a beautiful woman to marry you. In parts of India they are treated as Gods.”
His appreciation began in childhood in rural Ghana, where he was raised by his mother and grandma, and it grew after moving to New York for work where he fell into a short-term career as a butcher.
“I was actually hopeless. I knew so little about meat, I’d cheat,” says the 41-year-old.
“On the wall there were anatomical drawings of the animals detailing each cut and I’d have to use those as a guide. Even then, my boss would catch me and all I would be doing is chatting to customers.”
He may have once sold their flesh, but his bovine-inspired canvases now fetch three times their asking price. Marfo’s work now graces a range of designer scarves by Aspinal of London.
Other topics close to the artist’s heart are the power of womanhood, the value of single parenting and the beauty of vitiligo.
His work at first glance feels vividly African – he grew up in the mountainous town of Kwahu, about four hours from Accra – but each piece is a careful patchwork of different continents.
Renaissance ruff collars from Britain, sacred cows from India and fertility dolls from Ghana all feature.
“We live in a great melting pot – it has many cracks in it,” he says. “But I want to bring people together and for everyone to see their culture reflected.”
Marfo remembers spending his formative years in the local library looking at pictures of Picasso and watching the craftsmen of Accra sell their wares to tourists, but says his own artistic ambitions initially got no further than the riverbank.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
