Portraiture in Ghana. Female strides.

Abstract

Portraiture in Ghana has been dominated by men. Many monuments in Ghana have been erected by male sculptors which is painting a picture that females do not make portrait sculptures, this is why the researcher intended to find out whether there are practicing female sculptors in Ghana, and if there are why they are not commissioned to make monumental portraits in the Country. The main objective of the study was to identify practicing female portrait and figurative sculptors in Ghana, analyse their works and find out how their works are documented. Qualitative method of research was used and the research design was case study. Six female portrait and figurative sculptors constituted the sample size and the sampling techniques were purposive and snowballing. Semi structured interview and personal observation were the data collection instruments used for this study. Thematic and visual analysis were used to analyse the qualitative data. The study revealed that although there are some Ghanaian female sculptors practicing portraiture, most of them are unable to combine portraiture as a profession and domestic activities. Secondly, most of them are in the academia making the practice of portraiture a part time business. Again, the study revealed that, females who choose sculpture as their elective course in their first years in the universities are low as compared to the males. The researcher concluded that, it will not be appropriate to give a strict definition of who a portrait artist is, since the scope of portraiture expands beyond representation of physical looks of an individual because installations and conceptual art are classified as portraits once they talk about a particular individual. It was recommended that female Visual Art students should be encouraged to pursue sculpture and subsequently portraiture. Again, she suggested that practicing female portrait sculptors and their works should be documented and placed in educational institutions that offer sculpture, Libraries, Centres for National Culture and Museums and Monuments Board to serve as educational resources and advert for people who may need their services.