H.E Christoph Retzlaff
The German Ambassador, H.E Christoph Retzlaff, has revealed that the Franco-German Cultural Fund has since 2003 funded 320 projects in over 300 countries throughout the world.
Speaking at the opening of an exhibition of photographs titled “Simply Iconic – Vintage Images of the Beaten Path” at the Museum of Science and Technology in Accra, he said the aim of the fund, which supported the exhibition, is to make the Franco-German friendship visible and tangible.
He added at that the fund operates in collaboration with local partners through the Goethe-Instituts and Institut Français, which are cultural institutions of Germany and France respectively, adding that the exhibition, which was realised through the Heritage Photo Lab project has diverse Ghanaian partners.
Touching on the exhibition, he stressed that “preservation of cultural heritage is an important task that is strongly promoted and supported by Germany. Indeed, the distinction between tangible and intangible culture is very important, thus cultural heritage such as customs, knowledge, songs etc must consequently be preserved.”
A senior research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, Dr. Irene Appeaning-Addo, remarked that Heritage Photo Lab, which is currently being hosted by the JH Nketia Archives, hopes to create initiatives aimed at mapping, preserving and sharing heritage photography from Ghana’s early independence era from the 1950s to the 1070s.
The main objective of the project, she reiterated, is to create awareness about photo conservation in Ghana while collecting, preserving and making accessible Ghana’s heritage photos deposited on negatives, diapositives and prints.
Contributors to the project include Exit Frame Collective (Felicia Abban Archive), Information Services Department, Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy / Mmofra Foundation (Willis Bell Archive), Prof. John Collins (Bokoor Archives) and Kate Tamakloe (Deo Gratias Archive). Others are Nat Pobee (Modern Photos Company), cultural journalist Nii Laryea Korley and Allotey Bruce Konuah, a photo archivist noted for digitising the works of internationally acclaimed Ghanaian photographer James Barnor. The exhibition, which is being curated by Dr. Bernard Akoi-Jackson, ends on Friday, April 16, 2021.