Jude Agboada: Hu m’ani so ma me

Jude Agboada’s exhibition examines the enduring structures of colonialism through the lens of Ghana’s post-independence history. Although Ghana was among the first African nations to gain independence from British rule in 1957, Agboada approaches independence not as a conclusion but as a condition shaped by colonialism’s afterlives—its persistence within language, culture, architecture, and systems of representation.

The exhibition takes its title from a Ghanaian proverb, Hu m’ani so ma me, nti na atwe mmienu nam, translated from Akan as “antelopes walk in pairs to blow dust from each other’s eyes.” While the proverb is commonly associated with collaboration and mutual care, Agboada uses it as a critical metaphor. Seeing clearly, he suggests, is never a solitary act. In the context of colonial histories, the proverb resists singular or authoritative viewpoints, instead foregrounding collective witnessing, shared responsibility, and the necessity of multiple perspectives in the production of knowledge.

Working across graphic design, sculpture, video collage, and mixed media, Agboada positions Ghana as a case study for nations whose cultural identities were profoundly reshaped by imperial rule. He points to the erosion of linguistic diversity as a central consequence of colonization: where more than one hundred languages were once spoken, only a small number remain in common use today. For Agboada, the loss of language signals not only diminished communication, but the erosion of worldview and collective memory.

Throughout the exhibition, monuments and architectural forms emerge as contested sites where power is made visible and history is selectively constructed. Agboada’s work asks what it means to see clearly—together—when colonial structures continue to shape the present.