Cartographic Journal
‘Wind Routes of the Gold Coast’ 2021
Delighted to receive a copy of the latest Cartographic Journal *(Volume 60, No. 3) just published by The British Cartographic Society and featuring our art work ‘Wind Routes of the Gold Coast’ 2021 on the cover.
In 2018 we were invited to Ghana by Gallery 1957 to research the architecture of the coastal ‘Slave Castles’ built by European traders following the Portuguese construction of Elmina Castle in 1482, and make an art exhibition to mark ‘The Year of Return’ in 2019, the 400 anniversary of the arrival of the first English slave ship in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619.
‘Wind Routes of the Gold Coast’ (2021) is based on Johannes van Keulen’s chart of Ghana of 1683, used by Dutch and British slave traders to navigate the West African Coast. When we found van Keulen’s original chart in the Dutch National Archives in the Hague in Holland, we were inspired to make this artwork and include it in our exhibition ‘The Past is Never Dead …’. Following delays imposed by the covid pandemic the exhibition opened from 20 May – 12 July 2021. at Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana.
Photos 2 & 3, Nii Odzenma
