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| Bernard Akoi-Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bernard Akoi-Jackson |
| Birth date | 1970s |
| Birth place | Ghana |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Occupation | Visual artist; curator; academic |
| Known for | Performance art; installation; satire; curatorship |
Bernard Akoi-Jackson
Bernard Akoi-Jackson is a Ghanaian visual artist, performance practitioner, curator, and academic known for satirical interventions, installations, and critical engagements with public space. He works across performance, installation, archival practice, and pedagogy, engaging with debates in contemporary African art, postcolonial studies, and urbanism. His practice intersects with international Biennales, university programs, and cultural institutions across Africa, Europe, and North America.
Akoi-Jackson was born in Ghana and trained in institutions connected to West African artistic networks, studying alongside figures associated with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, Achimota School, and regional art collectives. His formative years intersected with influences from artists and intellectuals linked to El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona, and curators from Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, National Gallery of Art, and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. He pursued postgraduate study shaped by discourses prominent at Goldsmiths, University of London, Rhode Island School of Design, University of the Arts London, and research centers such as African Studies Association, International Association of Art Critics, and Documenta-related seminars.
His work blends performance, installation, archival gestures, and pedagogical formats, dialoguing with themes explored by Wole Soyinka, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Achille Mbembe, Homi K. Bhabha, and theorists associated with Postcolonial Studies, Visual Culture debates at institutions like Smithsonian Institution and British Museum. Akoi-Jackson employs satire comparable to interventions by Banksy, Pieter Hugo, Coco Fusco, and Theaster Gates, while engaging with urban topographies addressed by Lagos Biennial, Venice Biennale, Documenta, and municipal projects in Accra, Kumasi, Lagos, and Johannesburg. His practice often references archival materials linked to Colonial Office (United Kingdom), Gold Coast, British Empire, and regional archives such as National Archives of Ghana and collections at National Museum of Ghana.
Akoi-Jackson has participated in solo and group presentations at venues and events including National Museum of Ghana, West African Ceramics Centre, Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Chale Wote Street Art Festival, Accra Triennial, Jo'burg Art Fair, Dak'Art Biennale, Biennale of Sydney, Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, MOMA PS1, Art Basel, and university galleries at University of Oxford, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cape Town, and Stellenbosch University. Notable projects have taken the form of public performances, ephemeral installations, and site-specific interventions resonant with approaches seen in works by Yinka Shonibare CBE, Ghada Amer, Kendell Geers, and Meschac Gaba.
He has held roles in curatorial projects and academic appointments connected to programs and organizations including Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana Legon, Ghanaian National Theatre, Goethe-Institut Accra, British Council Ghana, Institute of African Studies, African Studies Association, and collaborative platforms such as Archive and Public Culture, Congo Biennale, and African Pavilion initiatives at international biennials. His teaching and mentorship intersect with faculty and practitioners affiliated with Goldsmiths, SOAS University of London, Pratt Institute, Columbia University, and research networks like CODESRIA.
Akoi-Jackson's practice has been acknowledged by awards, residencies, and fellowships associated with institutions such as British Council, Prince Claus Fund, Phaidon's Artist-in-Residence programs, MacDowell Colony, Yinchuan Biennale residency, and grants provided through Ford Foundation, Arts Council England, and regional arts funds including Ghana Cultural Development Fund and African Arts Trust. His nominations and honors have featured in contexts sponsored by Artes Mundi, Turner Prize-adjacent discussions, and juried recognitions at Dak'Art and national arts councils.
His work informs contemporary dialogues among artists, curators, and scholars active within networks that include El Anatsui, Zanele Muholi, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, William Kentridge, Ibrahim Mahama, and institutions such as Zeitz MOCAA, National Gallery of Canada, Brooklyn Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and research bodies like Institute of International Visual Arts (InIVA). Akoi-Jackson's pedagogical projects and public art interventions contribute to debates in postcolonial aesthetics, urban memory, and performative satire, influencing curricula at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana, and collaborative residencies with Goethe-Institut, British Council, and Art Jameel.
Category:Ghanaian artists