apexart Resident Blog

Dorothy Akpene Amenuke

Dorothy Akpene Amenuke was born in 1968 in Adzokoe-Peki, Ghana. She studied Sculpture and Art Education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. She has an MFA in Sculpture and was completing a doctorate in sculpture at the time of her residency. She worked professionally as an art teacher from 1987 to 2004 at the primary and secondary levels. She works as a fibre and fabric artist and resource person for art clubs in schools and is also involved with Sansa International Artists’ Association.

Dorothy visited apexart from Kumasi, Ghana, from October 15 - November 14, 2007. She was recommended by El Anatsui, an artist in Ghana/Nigeria. Visit her Resident Page for more information.

Fast life: Who cares for who?

As the new resident for apexart, i will, within the next few weeks, be sharing my experiences in New York with you.
Almost everything in this part of the world seem different from those i am used to, back in Ghana; the weather, transportation, the food, the neighborhood, the people, just name it.
Literally, a cold weather greeted me as i landed on the grounds of New York. A kind of whether that is not usually experienced in Ghana except during the ‘hamatan’ season. Metaphorically, the cold from the busy, fast,and noisy environment left me thinking of those who do not have relatives in NY. They might feel really lonely sometimes.
What fascinates me most is the way people move brusquely, as though being chased by an unknown force. Probably they are really being chased; but by what? Work? Job? But they seem to be moving forward, probably towards Work or Job. so where stands the work or job to be chasing them? So does this situation leave individuals unconcerned about what goes on around them?
What then can one say about a place like Union Square Park and such other places, where people take time off to sit and probably refresh themselves?They are not running or moving, yet individuals seem to careless about what goes on around them. Maybe that’s the NY style: ‘mind your own business’. Situation such as this, will be branded in Ghana, “everybody for himself God for us all “.

What do we learn?

There are very interesting places in New York.
One such place is the Liberty Island with the Statue of Liberty.
Being one of the most acknowledged land marks of the city, one might wonder how it affects the lives of the people especially those who take time off to visit the place.
Most people probably, go there in their spare time or when on vacation and for sightseeing.
But what happens there and after? How does that site affect the individuals?

It took many to shape the place into what we see today, but we revere the architect of the original idea and the design of the statue.
What enlivens my spirit however is the fact that, a woman’s(Emma Lazarus, an American poet and essayist) art helped raise the statue up, just as we have the warrior, Yaa Asantewaa in the history of the Ashanti/colonial war in Ghana.
Women move things, they make things happen. This is not a question of feminism, but an understanding of the make of a woman who is naturally an artist(though she might not be called that) by dint of her realization of responsibilities, idea developments and execution of these ideas which are sometimes ignored initially but which becomes a master plan. Liberty Island! what an inspiration ground.

The subway

This is one of my many views and experiences of the subway. It used to be just an imagination and appreciation of George Tooker’s “THE SUBWAY”, an oil painting on canvas. This painting gave me an impression of loneliness and excessive masculinity in “the subway”; the angularity of lines, thick and erect pillars and prison-like metal bars, all seem to trigger the idea of entrapment in his painting. People appear to look and move in different directions, minding their own business, and there seem to be more men than women.

Similar atmosphere seems to be presented in this randomly taken photo of the subway. This time, not a painting but a photo taken at the spot. Does that suggest that the subway could be a place of quiet amidst so much noise from both the movement of trains and people? Could it be that there are certain times that the subway is really quiet and a bit scary?

The subway from this point probably gives a different out look of the fast movement of people and train, because it manages such a large number of moving people and this could be testified by choked trains at certain times.

One could begin to think if the scene in the subway does not emphasize the “fast life, who cares for who”. Whether few or many people, the fast life still reigns, and everyone seems to mind his own business.