About Us

Adinkra

The word “Adinkra” is an Akan word which means “Farewell” or “Goodbye” the “Adinkra symbols” became a visual system of various symbolic representations of ethics, morality, advice, concepts and ideas often recording historical events, expressing particular attitudes or behaviour related to depicted figures and abstract shapes.

The Adinkra symbols were created by the Akan of Ghana and also by the Gyaman of Côte D’Ivoire in the early 1800’s for communication purposes. “Adinkra” is said to be the name of a former king of Gyaman (present day Côte D’Ivoire) called Nana Kofi Adinkra. This king was captured by the Ashanti with the offense that he had copied the “Golden Stool” An incredibly sacred icon of the Ashanti. Rise up Yaa Asaanatwaa!

The triangular symbol of Adinkra Arts collective is a morphing of the symbol “Adinkrahene which stands for greatness, charisma and leadership. “Hene” in the Akan language meaning “King”. When we take a good look at this symbol you’ll notice a black dot in the middle and 3 black concentric circles around it. A translation of “Ohene Y3 Owia”, means “The King is the Sun”. So just as the planets rotate around the sun in our solar system, making it the most important object, so does the “Hene” who is pictured as the dot. Now the concentric circles around this dot represent the people in his kingdom and the dot represents the king. Called the King of symbols as many of the Adinkra symbols have been shaped by this.

We remain truly honoured to have had designer, artist and friend Jon Daniel (1966-2017 RIEP) design our logo. Skill-fully and preciously in keeping with the spirit of our ancestors as we strive to look upwards with understanding and clarity.

The motto we use Help me To Help you is taken from “Boa Me Na Me Mmoa Wo” this symbol stands for cooperation and interdependence.

ODO NNYEW FIE KWAN
‘Love never loses its way home’