Grandma’s Hands
Arthur Timothy is an architect and painter whose works depict close family members and autobiographical events, specifically in Accra, Ghana where the artist was born, and Sierra Leone, where he lived until the age of 9. The paintings are inspired by small black and white family photographs and are imbued with vibrant colour, added from his memory and imagination, which update and bring life to the original imagery.
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GRANDMA’S HANDS

GALLERY 1957 | ACCRA | 28 AUG – 22 OCT 2021

 

Grandma’s Hands is Arthur Timothy’s second solo exhibition.

VIEW ON GALLERY 1957

Co-curated by Ekow Eshun, the works on show are a result of Timothy’s recent re-examining of the post-colonial African life that informed his early years. In fresh washes of colour, Timothy’s found photographs (kept unmarked in a trunk) are transformed into lush paintings which marry the personal and the political, encouraging considered and nuanced responses to moments frozen in time.

 

Multi-layered and complex – some are underpinned by memory, whilst others are lost to the sands of time. The paintings depict moments in the lives of the Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean sides of his family. His father Bankole Timothy was from Sierra Leone, and his mother Adeline Dove – a daughter of the distinguished barrister Francis (Frans) Dove – was from Accra, Ghana.

In paintings such as The Journalist (2021) we peer into family life, with Timothy’s late father shown at work for Ghana’s leading Daily Graphic paper. Initially a friend of Kwame Nkrumah – Ghana’s first president – Timothy’s father bore witness to many important political moments, some of which are depicted in works including The Witness and Rubicon (both 2021). In Delegation (2021) the viewer is introduced to Kwame Nkrumah’s first political cabinet. Amongst figures including Kojo Botsio, K.A. Gbedemah, A. Caseley-Hayford, T. Hutton-Millsdressed in traditional Kente cloth, are British delegates from the House of Commons, dressed in top hats and tails.

 

Other works depict life after the family left Ghana. Following his outspoken journalistic criticism of Nkrumah’s political decision-making in an article entitled “What Next Kwame?”, Timothy’s father was deported, and the family returned to Sierra Leone. In works such as 11 Earl Street and Mischief (both 2021) we glimpse post-deportation family life at his grandmother’s house in Freetown.

On his mother Adeline Dove’s side of the family, the paintings depict Adeline and some of her sisters. Mabel Dove (2021) presents Timothy’s aunt Mabel Dove Danquah – a prominent writer, journalist and political activist and pioneering Ghanaian feminist on the steps of the Ghanaian Embassy in London. Alongside this is Evelyn Dove (2021), depicting Mabel’s sister, herself a well-known singer and actress, and Eileen Dove and her family.

 

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue including texts from curator and broadcaster Ekow Eshun.