‘A Stick in Time’ captures the endangered craft of Nzulezo’s stilt construction which entails carpentry, joinery and artisanry using raffia palm sticks and other natural materials found in the Amanzule Wetlands in which the Nzulezo stilt village can be found.
The centuries-old skill is under threat as the community which was once isolated due to its geographical location, is now popular after its 2001 addition to UNESCO’s tentative list and the consequent touristification efforts by locals and the government. The exposure to the ‘outside’ has brought new interests into the area, including new tastes in building materials which are neither native to the natural surroundings nor to the ancestral craft of stilt construction. The sense of community which was strengthened through this collective labour, and is also reflected in the closely-knit layout of the stilt structures, is equally at risk.
While the project team acknowledges that “culture is dynamic,” our primary objective is to capture not only the endangered traditional construction techniques of Nzulezo but also the changes its people have embraced to adapt their spaces to time, showcased in an overlay of multi-media between the ‘old’ and ‘new.’
PI: Carlien Donkor
Collaborators: Eileen Stornebrink and Gideon Asmah
Location of Research: Old Nzulezo and Beyin, Ghana
Host Institution: African Studies Centre Leiden
Top banner image: Reflection of a stilt house on the Amanzule River. Photo credit: Gideon Asmah.