Article by Floriana Savino

From May 6 to November 22, 2026, visual artist Amoako Boafo (Accra, Ghana, 1984) arrives at the Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice, for his first solo exhibition in Italy. During the evocative months of the Venice Art Biennale, Boafo’s vibrant and tactile paintings will guide viewers through the paths of a euphoric portraiture that narrates itself.

By working with pigments applied directly with his fingers—a deliberate choice to replace the brush—the Ghanaian artist reflects on the nature of portraiture in an increasingly distracted and homogenized time. Having chosen his homeland and native city, Accra, as a space for experimentation and artistic growth, Boafo has consistently maintained an active commitment to promoting an African cultural ecology that continues to gain broader and more widespread visibility. Alongside his remarkable frontal portraits, which depict both loved ones and a deeply autobiographical exploration of the corporeal self, the artist has also developed cooperative and curatorial projects that establish spaces for encounter and active experimentation within the Ghanaian city. In December 2022, Amoako Boafo inaugurated dot.ateliers, a multi-level space designed in Accra by architect David Adjaye, now hosting an art gallery, a library, and several studio spaces available to local creatives interested in developing collaborative and dialogical projects.

Among the aspects that most strongly motivate his practice and distinctive artistic vision is a profound need to liberate Black art from the constraints of a voracious art market driven primarily by fleeting trends and buying patterns. Reflecting on a long and troubling tradition of white gatekeepers shaping desires and markets, Amoako Boafo’s work emerges as a form of activism committed to a deep and generous history of Negritude.

As philosopher Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò wrote in the influential essay Elite Capture (2022):

“A constructive approach […] asks us to reinvent ourselves as planners and designers, to become accountable and responsive to the people who still share the room we inhabit. More than architects, it asks us to become builders and workers, to construct the rooms in which we can live together, rather than idly speculating about which room might be the most welcoming.”

As seen in the photographic portraiture of African figures such as Samuel Fosso and Seydou Keïta, textures rooted in tradition and enriched by the material and emotional power of color define a vitality that emerges clearly in Boafo’s painterly choices. The frontal presence of his figures opens up a world, marking participation and a dialogue built on presence and connection. By allowing the body, touch, and his fingers to define the canvas, the artist opens up new possibilities for the future of art.