Art, Honor, and Ridicule: Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana

by Silvia Forni (Author), Doran H. Ross (Author)

For the Asafo military companies of southern Ghana, warfare was not reserved for the battlefield. Competition among groups often had as much an aesthetic component as a military one. This landmark publication explores the stunning textile-based artistic tradition associated with the military companies of the Fante people in Ghana. This book examines the cultural, political, and social facets of the artworks produced by a number of Fante workshops in central-southern Ghana for the use of the Asafo military companies of the region. The striking visual vocabulary of the flags is in fact closely linked to the architectural, sculptural, poetic, performative, and musical expressions of the Fante. This publication is an extraordinary introduction to the world of visual, chromatic, and narrative competition that characterizes the public display of Asafo companies.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ ROM; Illustrated edition (Sept. 4 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 303 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0888545169
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0888545169
• Item weight ‏ : ‎ 1.92 kg
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 24.13 x 2.54 x 30.48 cm