Zohra Opoku est une artiste d’origine allemande et ghanéenne basée à Accra. Elle questionne les influences politiques, historiques, culturelles et socio-économiques dans la formation des identités personnelles, en particulier dans le contexte du Ghana contemporain. Sa pratique est centrée sur les textiles et les codes vestimentaires traditionnels ghanéens, qui font partie intégrante de l’identité et de l’industrie du pays au fil de l’histoire complexe de l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Cette pratique lui permet de se connecter à l’abstraction de l’identité. Elle réalise des sérigraphies et propose un traitement de la photographie alternatif, sur des tissus naturels fabriqués à l’étranger et remis sur le marché africain. Son travail comprend une dimension sociale, interrogeant l’expérience humaine, avec en toile de fond la question de l’identité personnelle.
Zohra Opoku is an artist of German and Ghanaian descent based in Accra. She examines political, historical, cultural, and socio-economic influences in the formation of personal identities, particularly in the context of contemporary Ghana. Her practice centers around textiles and traditional Ghanaian dress codes, which have been an inherent part of the country’s identity and industry throughout West Africa’s complex history and serve as vehicles for her to connect to the abstraction of identity in a tangible way. Opoku’s research and explorations have been mostly carried out through the lens of her camera; her photography is expressed via screen-printing and alternative photo processing on varieties of natural fabrics manufactured abroad and distributed in Africa to be re-used as Western Second Hand trade products found on the local market. Additionally, she experiments with new and found wood as well as textiles and garments used in different manifestations of site-specific installations. While her work relays social commentary and broad themes relating to the human experience, each of Opoku’s explorations is intimately rooted in personal identity politics.