Accra-based platform Manju Journal gives African creatives the spotlight they deserve

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Accra-based platform Manju Journal gives African creatives the spotlight they deserve

‘Memory In A Digital Age’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & SHOWstudio Photography by Yannis Davy Guibinga
‘Memory In A Digital Age’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & SHOWstudio Photography by Yannis Davy Guibinga

Since 2015, Accra, Ghana-based Manju Journal has grown from an Instagram account curating images of African creativity to an internationally-celebrated art and culture platform and creative studio that founder Richmond Orlando Mensah works on full-time. Collaboration was the key to their success: they’ve worked with everyone from i-D to Gucci and Burberry to help raise the profile of multi-disciplinary artists from Africa and across the diaspora. In 2023, they published their first print publication, ‘Voices – Ghana’s Artists in their own Words’, which is now available to buy on the COLORS online shop.

 

To celebrate ‘Voices’ joining our store, we sat down with Orlando for an in-depth interview. We discussed everything from Manju’s rise to prominence to the inspirations behind ‘Voices’, as well as his hopes for the future of the African creative scene.

Hi Orlando! What inspired you to launch Manju Journal in 2015?

I was in my second year of studying French and Linguistics at the University of Ghana when I had the idea. I had lots of friends who were active in the creative industries, whether through fashion, music, painting, or filmmaking. All of them had wonderful projects that they were trying to get on platforms and publications outside of Ghana, but it was difficult to find editors to pitch them to. I was like, “let me set something up on Instagram to spotlight your work.” That’s how Manju started. In the beginning there was no clear direction. I just wanted to support the beautiful things I was seeing around me.

Over time, I started to spotlight artists from other regions in Africa, and in the diaspora as well. I wanted to create a larger community of artists outside of my hometown of Accra.

Where did the name Manju come from?

My godfather was Indian. When he passed away, I wanted to do something to honor his memory. I did some research and discovered the Sanskrit word, Manju, which means beautiful, sweet, or pleasant. It felt like a fitting name for the platform.

How did Manju grow from a passion project to the well-known arts and cultural platform it is today?

I started reaching out to other publications offering to do cross-cultural collaborations. I began by working with Paper Journal, an Australian photography magazine. Then, with i-D, I created “The Hot List”, an annual list of the top 20 creatives from Africa and the diaspora people should have on their radar. Later, I worked with Vogue Italia to write a list of 20 female African photographers to support.

Fast forward to 2020 and you were approached by an agency working with Gucci to create a project surrounding the relaunch of their Jackie 1961 bag! Tell us more about that.

When I first got the email I thought it was spam! Through talks with the agency, we came up with the idea for a film titled ‘We Are All They’. It celebrated the fact that in Ghanaian dialects there are no words for “he” and “she.”

Working with Gucci was a breakthrough for Manju. It showed people that we don’t just curate images online. We’re also able to create our own authentic, original content and storytelling about the Africa, the creatives living here, and our diaspora.

Photography by Jones Martey
Photography by Jones Martey

Since then, you’ve established Manju’s creative studio, where you have collaborated with brands like Tommy Jeans and Burberry. With the latter, you created a photo series called ‘Together and One’ to celebrate Black History Month. 

The series was inspired by two prolific photographers, Kwame Brathwaite and Philip Kwame Apagya. In 2022, some of the images were selected to be part of The New Black Vanguard show, a landmark exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London celebrating Black creativity. It was curated by Antwaun Sargent and supported by Burberry.

You’ve also done a lot of consulting for brands, like Polaroid and Show Studio. When doing so, is your role mainly to ensure that they represent African creativity in an authentic way? Often the continent can be misrepresented by Western media.

When Manju works with brands, we always make sure that the storytelling is in line with who we are as Africans. When we worked with Gucci, for example, it was very clear that a lot of people had no idea that we don’t use gendered pronouns in Ghanaian dialects. It’s very important to ensure that these stories are being told. The goal for Manju is for us to act as a bridge between creatives in Africa and brands or innovative institutions outside of the continent. We want to give them the spotlight they deserve.

A few months ago, you published Manju’s first digital zine. Is this indicative of the direction you want to take Manju in the future?

We want to see how we can venture into the world of publishing. Our long-term goal is to channel everything we do digitally into print. Our first digital zine celebrated fashion and innovative storytelling in Africa. We shot it in Tamale, the capital of the northern region of Ghana. This was very important to me: audiences see a lot of work coming out of Accra, but it’s important that the north of the country gets a spotlight too.

Your first print publication, ‘Voices: Ghana’s Artists in their Own Words’ is now available in the COLORS shop. How did this project come about?

During the pandemic, my publishers Twentyfour Thirtysix noticed that there were a lot of Ghanaian artists—from fashion designer Oswald Boateng to curator Ekow Eshun—who had the Ghanaian flag in their Instagram bios. There was a strong sense of community between them. After various conversations, we decided that it would be great to showcase this through a publication.

‘Together and ONE’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & Burberry Photography by Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti, Styling by Kusi Kubi
‘Together and ONE’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & Burberry Photography by Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti, Styling by Kusi Kubi

“When you speak to one member of the Ghanaian creative community, then they love to recommend you other people to speak to as well!”

‘Together and ONE’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & Burberry Photography by Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti Styling by Kusi Kubi
‘Together and ONE’. Courtesy MANJU Journal & Burberry Photography by Kwabena Sekyi Appiah-nti Styling by Kusi Kubi

“There’s a strong sense of community spirit among the talents here.”

Initially, we wanted to feature a broad range of creatives from fashion and music too, but we decided that would make the book way too big! Instead, we focused on visual artists, including painters, photographers, performing artists, filmmakers, ceramicists, and textile designers. Ghanaian art is having a moment, but there were no concrete materials or documents to show the next generation of creatives who helped the scene develop. We wanted ‘Voices’ to fill that void.

Why was it so important to interview all of the 95 contributors, and make sure that they were represented, as the title says, in their own voices?

It was so beautiful getting to know all of these artists. We discussed their work, inspirations, and the future of Ghanaian and African visual arts. When you speak to one member of the Ghanaian creative community, then they love to recommend you other people to speak to as well! There’s a strong sense of community spirit among the talents here.

We featured everyone from new graduates to up-and-comers, established artists, and older creatives, like James Barnor, who turned 95 a few months ago! The book isn’t an exhaustive anthology, though. We want people to see it as a starting point.

Final question! You asked the artists in ‘Voices’ about the future of the Ghanaian creative scene. What do you think the future of creativity in Ghana, or Africa, looks like?

The future is bright! There’s an increasing interest in African creativity. Afrobeats originates from our continent, but now it’s being received globally. Fashion-wise, Chanel had their Metiers d’Art show in Dakar in 2022, and brands like Nike and Adidas have also been collaborating with a lot of Nigerian creatives. More recently, I saw that Dior collaborated with one of my favorite Cameroonian painters, Ludovic Nkoth. Gradually, people are learning that there is more to what they thought they knew about Africa.

Homegrown Zine, Issue 1 by Manju Journal. Photography Daniel Obasi
Homegrown Zine, Issue 1 by Manju Journal. Photography Daniel Obasi

Richmond Orlando Mensah is the founder of Manju Journal, an Accra-based arts and culture platform dedicated to spotlighting African creativity. Their first print publication, ‘Voices: Ghana’s Artists in their own Words’, is now available to buy on the COLORS online shop. Purchase it here.

Text: Emily May

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