The head sculptures at the Nkyinkyim Museum in Ghana are meant to commemorate all those enslaved Africans who drowned in the Atlantic Ocean during slavery and were not mentioned, to remember them and to give them proper African respect, the founder of the installation told Sputnik Africa.
"In fact, one of the major reasons why I started creating the heads was to commemorate all of these enslaved Africans who were not mentioned, commemorated and giving the proper African respect," Kwame Akoto-Bamfo said.
He added that the number of sculptures in the Nkyinkyim installation has been changing since its inception in 2009, as he "creating and expanding on that body of work, so it's currently over, 2500, concrete sculptures."
“The inspiration is from traditional icon, funerary art, a kind of traditional African funerary art, and rituals. For the Akan [ethnic group] should anybody die, or transition, we make a portrait not only of the person, but his or her family. As part of the, the funerary rituals or the transition ritual to or the farewell ritual for the person who is passed, so this is where the inspiration is coming. And it's not only an art work it's a sacred art and ritual form,” he explained.