Whispers from Home

Whispers from Home is an ongoing series documenting Fetu Afahye in Cape Coast, Ghana. Returning to a festival I once witnessed from the margins, the work explores how ritual, dress and movement shape collective identity.

Whispers from Home is an ongoing photographic series that began in 2023 during Fetu Afahye, an annual festival celebrated by the people of Oguaa in Cape Coast, Ghana, the town where I was raised.

Growing up around the festival, I always experienced it from the margins. As a child, I was never allowed into its centre. Returning years later as an adult, and with a camera in hand, I stepped into that space with intention, not only to witness, but to document what I had once stood too far away to see.

Moving within the procession allowed me to observe the festival from a closer proximity. Through moments of ritual, gesture, dress and movement, the series explores how identity is expressed collectively in public space. The images pay particular attention to the visual language of the festival, ceremonial clothing, adornment and the choreography of communal celebration.

Conceived as an evolving body of work, Whispers from Home reflects on memory, belonging and the cultural expressions that shape contemporary Ghanaian identity.