From Kumasi’s roadside sermons to the ethnographic gaze of Paris, the Ghanaian painter reflects on translation, authorship, and the shifting lives of images in his exhibition, ‘Almighty God Art Works’.
29 April 2026
Presented at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Kwame Akoto: ‘Almighty God Art Works’ marks the first major exhibition in France dedicated to the Ghanaian artist, whose practice bridges popular painting, spiritual conviction, and social commentary. Known for his striking signboard works, where bold imagery meets urgent text, Akoto navigates the space between public address and contemporary art. In this conversation, he reflects on how his paintings transform across contexts, the collective dimensions of authorship, and the layered meanings that emerge when local visual languages enter global institutions.
Kwame Akoto, Ghost Painting. Photo Claude Germain. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Claude Germain.
Suzette Bell-Roberts: How does your exhibition at Musée du quai Branly engage the museum’s ethnographic history, and how do you position your work within or against its longstanding framing of African art?
Kwame Akoto: I believe my art resonates well with the museum’s ethnographic history.
Kwame Akoto, Death is painful. (C) Antoine de Galbert Collection, Paris.
What conceptual or material shifts occur when your signboard paintings move from the streets of Kumasi, where they operate within everyday spiritual and commercial life, into a European museum context?
When my signboard paintings move from Kumasi to a European museum, their function shifts a bit; they go from direct, everyday communication to objects of interpretation.
The works keep their original meaning, but are read differently in a new context.
Kwame Akoto, installation view. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Léo Delafontaine.
How do you approach questions of authorship and artistic identity within a practice that is deeply rooted in public address, faith, and community exchange?
I approach authorship as something shared rather than fixed. The question of Faith and community exchange is not individualistic, so my practice moves between asserting my voice as an artist and staying rooted in collective experience.
Kwame Akoto, My God, I thank you for not creating me a cow. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Claude Germain.
Language is central to your compositions, often carrying moral, cautionary, or aspirational messages. How do you think your texts resonate with audiences beyond Ghana?
Language in my work is both specific and open. In Ghana, the texts are direct and culturally grounded, often carrying clear moral or cautionary messages. Outside that context, not everything translates literally—but the tone, urgency, and intention still come through.
Even when the exact meaning shifts, audiences can connect to the emotions and questions behind the words—about behaviour, consequence, faith, or aspiration. In that way, the texts continue to speak, but in a more interpretive and cross-cultural way.
Kwame Akoto, Almighty God Art Works. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Léo Delafontaine.
Your work is frequently described as popular painting or outsider art. To what extent do these labels illuminate or constrain the complexity of your practice?
I believe these labels promote my practice and also heighten curiosity in my audience.
Kwame Akoto, video still. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Léo Delafontaine.
What does it mean for you to present commercially circulated, contemporary works within an institution shaped by colonial collecting histories and the display of African objects?
For me, presenting in such a space is a way to display and promote African heritage.
Kwame Akoto, Almighty God Art Works. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Léo Delafontaine.
Your paintings oscillate between instruction and image, narrative and spectacle. How would you like viewers to navigate the space between moral message and aesthetic experience?
I always want my works to not only be aesthetically pleasing but also to convey a moral message. I dream of helping make our world a better place through art, creating paintings that invite reflection. Viewers can move between looking and thinking, between being drawn in visually and engaging with the message.
Kwame Akoto, Almighty God Art Works. © Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, photo Léo Delafontaine.
In bringing your work into dialogue with an international audience in Paris, what conversations do you hope to open about Ghanaian visual culture today?
I hope it will be an opportunity to challenge simplified views of Ghanaian visual culture by showing that it is layered and evolving with elements that explore moral ambiguity.
This exhibition is on view at Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris, until 6 September 2026.
