Don’t Look Away
Ghanaian-born artist Amoako Boafo explores identity through the portraiture of Africans and the African Diaspora. His U.S. exhibition debut, "Soul of Black Folks," connects Black people through time and space in celebration. Yet, the undercurrent seeks to question the relationship between artist, subject, and audience as it relates to the long effects of racism and colonial power.
Photo by Ofoe Amegavie, 2020 for WSJ
Born in Accra, Ghana, Amoako Boafo attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he was inspired yet dissatisfied by the lack of Black subjects in European art. He began focusing on the portraiture of Black individuals from his home country and abroad. Titled after activist W.E.B. Du Bois’ book, a majority of the pieces in "Soul of Black Folks" were painted between 2018 and 2021, all featuring his distinct style: bold shapes, patterns, and colors frame finger-painted subjects composed in browns, blues, blacks, and greens. An impressionist painter, Boafo’s effect is multifaceted: limited use of the scene allows his subjects to take up space on the canvas. With nowhere for the eye to wander, you must look into the subject’s face, focusing on what they have to say about themselves. Forward details like photo-transferred patterns comment on how fashion begets identity as both a beacon and a shield. He finger paints his subjects to produce organic shapes reminiscent of light catching the cheek or the curve of the chin. Thin layers provide luminosity and depth to the skin. By finger painting, he further breaks down the barrier between himself and the subject, resulting in a tactile intimacy seen in the texture of the paint.
“Reflection I” oil on paper, Amoako Boafo, from the Roberts Projects
Touched by the pandemic and calls for racial justice, these pieces tell a story of reclaimed identity and agency. Boafo asks us how we perceive art, how we gaze and stare, and how that gaze interacts with the experience of the Black diaspora. The portraits display a shared experience, as the name of the exhibition suggests. But this experience does not equate to a monolith. Variation in time, subject, and even the depth of skin tone challenges the way in which Black people have been portrayed by dominant cultural forces in Europe and the United States, both figuratively and literally. The portraits range from subjects with their pets to young men evoking Civil Rights imagery to two siblings smiling, shyly tilting their heads as they meet your eye. As a Ghanaian artist based in Vienna with an American exhibition, he has complex knowledge of perception. He uses that to empower his subjects while also questioning what we see. His piece “Reflection I” acts as both thesis and answer. A self-portrait, we see Boafo’s back as he stares into a mirror, yet it seems like he stares back at us. This fractured portrait creates distance and recalls Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness, wherein Black folk must see themselves twice: through their own lens and the lens of whiteness. The mirror, so often a metaphor for vanity, turns back on us. So subjective to audience and race, who is the viewer and who is the viewed?
"Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks" is curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and is on display at the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado, USA until February 19, 2024.
