Abstract
This paper examines the role of food narratives and commensality in the work of Ghanaian contemporary artist Kingsley Sedem Dzade, with particular focus on his Mi na miadu nu exhibition. In a series of paintings centered on food, eating, and social gatherings, Dzade explores the evolving relationship between culinary traditions, personal identity, and broader sociocultural issues in Ghana. His work highlights how food functions as a social connector, facilitating dialogue, fostering community ties, and serving as a marker of cultural heritage. The paper situates Dzade’s food-themed paintings within Ghana’s contemporary art discourse, drawing attention to how his compositions confront the decline of communal eating and the growing dominance of fast food culture. Dzade’s visual commentary critiques the encroachment of global food franchises like KFC, linking these imported culinary habits to rising obesity rates and shifting cultural values. His work also reclaims traditional Ghanaian cuisine as a site of resilience and cultural memory, using meals as a lens to interrogate nationalism, popular culture, global consumerism, and the commercialization of food culture. In capturing both intimate family meals and large-scale social feasts, Dzade’s paintings reposition everyday food encounters as memories and cultural archives — spaces where personal taste, national identity, and global economic pressures collide. Through social commentary of ordinary meals, Dzade reframes food as a visual language through which stories of survival, adaptation, pride, and resistance are told. His artistic practice invites his audience to consider the political and cultural stakes embedded in what we eat and how we eat together.
Presenters
Sela Kodjo AdjeiHead of Department/Research Coordinator, Multimedia and Design, University of Media, Arts and Communication, Greater Accra, Ghana
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Food, Cuisine, Culture, Art, Visual, Gastronationalism, Narratives, Social Commentary, Health
