"Kayayei" Head Porters

This lovely painting "Kayayei" - Head Porters is by Samuel Walter Aduboffour.

Kayayei or Kaya Yei is a Ghanaian term for a female porter. Many of these women have migrated from a rural community to any of Ghana's urban cities in search of work. They generally carry their burdens on their heads for very ling periods of time.

The beauty of the painting hides the truth of the very hard life of the Kuyayei, they work very hard and earn very little and can often be exploited in many ways.

"Growing up on the mercies of the street in Accra inspired my works..I mostly paint with acrylic paint on canvas , all my work is inspired by what goes on or what I see around me now and from my memories growing up"

Samuel has been painting for about 15 years since taken in to an artists studio off the streets of Accra.

His work is signed "AMWL" (Art Made With Love) and he is currently exhibiting in Accra as well as in his small studio at the Accra Arts Centre where he also helps other emerging artists , some of them will be featured here shortly.

We met on my last trip to Ghana and discussed his life and beautiful art in detail and I told him how much I loved his work and wanted to bring it to Australia one day.

So..... here it is!

This original is acrylic on canvas.

Size is 430mm x 650mm an is sold as a rolled canvas ready to stretch or frame.