Material

Shoes

By

Made in ,

Recyclable 145 Recycled 151 Regenerative 62 Textile 111 Thread 4

Shoes
Shoes
Shoes
Shoes
Shoes
Shoes

Photos: Larissa Frimpong, Moris Akowuah

The Frimpong Case

The Frimpong Case is a testament to the people of Ghana who are helping him to make this work. The work is a compilation of discarded waste; shoes, toys, clothing, electronics that have come from the west and ended up in the backyards of many Ghanaian people. In his hometown, he saw a need for both jobs and a change in lifestyle environmentally. Since the objects are clogging their rivers, sitting is landfills, and being shipped daily, he thought, why not repurpose, and re-home these items. Thus, The Frimpong Case was created, and he employed ten workers from many months to help him sew shoes and clothing that would otherwise continue to pollute their home. When asked why clothing and shoes, Vincent responded, "the western world brings all unwanted trash to places like Africa, as both a way to make profit and get rid of the responsibility of alleviating permanent waste". He continued to add to it, "as a boy I had learned how to reuse what was in my environment to survive, as did my family and neighbours, so I took it upon myself to use my practice as a way to help better the lives and environment of people in my town of Kumasi while giving the objects back to the western world after turning them into art".

Once the works are sewn together, they are shipped from Ghana to the USA, where he is currently living and working as an artist and educator. He then makes the final touches before he sends the finished pieces to exhibitions. Vincent is using this work to continue the conversations about African labour and how art as a participatory practice can lead to change. He said his responsibility is to share the story of what it means to be an African artist and an immigrant who wants to uplift his people through transformative art practice and re-initiate a new conversation or perspective. Vincent is using monumental works developed from waste production in the West, by re-contextualizing and reusing the found objects to make space for a new legacy made by Ghanaians and African makers.

Vincent's artistic practice holds a lot of pride for him. He thinks that the ways we take care of ourselves, one another, and our surroundings can be aided by the artwork and the participants. It is Vincent's goal to bring The Frimpong Case to the world, continuing to make a change for the better.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.

Ingredients

Shoes, fly whisk, thread, aircraft cable

Credits

Henry Appiah, Ross Owusu Jnr, Emmanuel (Kstony) Asamoah, Larissa Frimpong, Philip Adusi Poku