Representations of black identity have emerged from a dark history to hopeful ambitions and new stories are finally coming to light. There is not just one narrative for the black identity. Are we, am I, finally able to tell our individual and collective stories through media and art exemplars? Bergson’s cone of perception says that memory and perception are intertwined. With this, can we theorize that the collective memory of diasporic blacks around the world affect their perception and, with Pan-Africanist cultural representation and understanding, give us an opportunity to tell our communal and individual stories as well as open a dialogue about ancestor, culture, and self. There is a lot to gain from moving on from the past, but I found that seeing old motifs still being used are a communicating spirit between spaces and people. In this case, I found that Adinkra symbols, Kente cloth, and other traditional styles of works from Ghana are still being created today in new spaces.
Being of Akan descent, this was significant to me because not only were they examples of old African design, that was deeply rooted in my own culture, but also the process was figuratively a mandala. I was using mandalas to experience a relationship between micro and the macro, self and world. Finding myself at a loop instead of focusing on the mandala design itself, I thought about my own culture. While doing research of cultural symbols, I came across the proverbial saying of Sankofa: It is not taboo to take a look at the past to create the future. Introducing Akan/Ghanaian design and culture is extremely important in today’s multicultural world because there is certainly a lack of representation for certain ancient civilizations or even third world cultures.
After visiting the Baltimore Museum of Art and reading about some Ghanaian cultural elements, I was able to learn and remember history from my culture, some of which I grew up around. I am now connecting to such symbols, which are abstract, literal, and representational forms with proverbial and cultural messages that have been spread through generations being utilized in different ways, with the same shared understanding. With this understanding, it is possible to have past notions represented today.
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