Ghanaian, 1923 – 2006
Grace Salome Kwami was born at Worawora in the Volta Region of Ghana in 1923. She showed interest in modelling aged six. She attended the Women Teachers’ Training College of the Basel Mission at Agogo and taught Arts and Crafts after she gained a Teachers Certificate “A” from the Training College. In 1951, Grace entered the Kumasi College of Art, now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and from there she worked at the National Museum, Accra as an Artist and Sculptor from 1954 to 1957. Grace taught in Mawuli School, Ho and Tamale Training College between 1957 and 1978.
She was involved with the “Sankofa Movement”, a group made up of various artists, including Kofi Antubam, Oku Ampofo, Vincent Kofi and Theododia Okoh as well as politicians who saw art as a tool for expressing the nation’s identity, beliefs and statehood. Grace Salome Kwami made a series of drawings in pen and ink on paper, bas-relief, and ceramic sculpture with overtones of Ghanaian customs. This was in tune with the concept of indigenizaton in cultural production which existed in the 1960s. She has spent her life making sculpture, painting, and jewellery. Her work is in collections (including the National Museum of Ghana, Accra, the Volta Regional Museum Ho, GMMB), Europe, and the USA.
The lasting impact of Grace Salome Kwami’s work is in her portraiture, terracotta figures and textile designs. She died in 2006.
Source: africultures website