By John Owoo
(Accra – Ghana)
A group exhibition exploring the uneasy relationship between tenderness and violence, and between beauty and discomfort, has opened at the Dei Center in Accra, bringing together diverse artists living and working in Ghana to examine the complexities of human experience through contemporary artistic practices.
Titled Velvet Tensions, the exhibition, curated by Nana Ama Dei, draws on the symbolic and material qualities of velvet, a fabric associated with luxury, elegance, and softness, while also evoking histories of mourning, power, intimacy, and concealment.
The exhibition uses this material as a conceptual starting point for examining opposing forces that coexist in everyday life. Velvet, as the curatorial statement suggests, is never simply one thing. Its appearance changes depending on the direction of touch, revealing a surface capable of holding contrasting qualities. This becomes a metaphor for the artists’ exploration of experiences that are often difficult to reconcile.
Participating artists include Kofi Boachie-Ansah, Tracy Lee-Garshong, Marian Dellor, Nana Adoma Ampomah, Setor Mensah, Adam Gasakor, Jeffrey Odonkor, Paige Grayson, Allen Cudjoe, Anoh Addo, Kwasi Kumi, Samuel Asante, Ebenezer Quaye, Gregory Kumah, Kae Kwabena, Derrick Mbrah, Justice Tetteh, Chessed Mensah, Desmond Botchway, Fanayez, Jonathan Darko, Magnus Laelynn and Nuria Alliet.
Bringing together artists working within Ghana’s contemporary art scene, Velvet Tensions considers how beauty can coexist with violence, how tenderness can mask discomfort, and how intimacy can create both closeness and distance. Rather than presenting these conditions as separate or opposing realities, the exhibition explores their interconnectedness and how they shape individual and collective experiences.
The curatorial approach deliberately avoids offering definitive answers. Instead, it invites viewers to consider what remains concealed beneath polished surfaces and familiar appearances. The works are presented as occupying multiple emotional and conceptual positions at once: tender yet severe, composed yet unsettling, and restrained yet expressive.
This emphasis on contradiction gives the exhibition its intellectual direction. It encourages audiences to move beyond immediate visual impressions and engage with the less visible histories, emotions, and tensions that inform artistic expression. The notion of what has been smoothed over, suppressed, or held within becomes particularly significant, suggesting that beneath apparent calm may lie unresolved experiences that demand attention.
At the Dei Centre, Velvet Tensions offers an opportunity to reflect on how contemporary artists navigate the complexities of their social and personal environments. Its strength lies in embracing ambiguity rather than trying to resolve it.
By inviting visitors to slow down and look more closely, the exhibition makes a compelling case for art as a space where uncomfortable truths, fragile relationships, and conflicting emotions can coexist. Ultimately, Velvet Tensions reminds us that beneath the softness of appearances, deeper stories often lie in wait to be encountered.
It ends on Saturday, January 2, 2027.
