Zohra Opoku
Weaving Identity, Memory and Culture into Textiles
Born in Altdöbern (former East Germany) in 1976 to a Ghanaian father and German mother, Zohra Opoku now lives and works in Accra. Her work explores the interwoven complexities of identity, belonging and heritage, fuelling a powerful practice at the intersection of photography, printed textiles, collage and embroidery (Mariane Ibrahim Gallery).
A Hybrid Practice Rooted in Memory
Opoku draws on family heirlooms, archival photographs and personal portraits as the foundation of her work. These images are screen‑printed onto natural fabrics—dyed beforehand—and then transformed through hand‑stitched embroidery, collage and dye to become intricate layered compositions (Mariane Ibrahim Gallery). The process reveals how material accumulates memory and meaning over time, mirroring social and personal histories (Hyperallergic).
From Germany to Ghana: A Journey of Becoming
Raised in East Germany with limited connection to her Ghanaian heritage, Opoku relocated to Accra in 2011 seeking creative freedom and cultural anchoring. In her own words: “Once you are in Ghana, Ghana becomes you and you become Ghana” (Aperture). This move transformed her practice, turning textile into a bridge between continents and time.
Signature Projects and Conceptual Themes
Unraveled Threads (2017): A poignant series where Opoku reclaims her lineage by weaving together photographs of her father as Asante royalty, Kente cloth, and memories of her mother. The works serve both as familial archive and cultural reclamation, stitching together ancestral identity and diaspora experience (Interior Design, Zohra Opoku Studio | Accra, Ghana).
The Myths of Eternal Life (2020–22): A deeply personal unfolding created during her battle with breast cancer. Structured in chapters inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the works meditate on mortality, resilience and spiritual transformation using dyed textiles and symbolic motifs (Aperture).
The Billboard Project (2014–15): Public installations in Accra using woven second‑hand clothes draped across unused billboards. The project interrogated consumer culture, waste and identity politics tied to imported garments (Harper\'s Bazaar Arabia).
Shaping the Future of African Creatives
Impact Area | Contribution |
|---|---|
Cultural Storytelling | Transforms personal narrative into textile archives that resonate across African diaspora history. |
Innovative Practice | Combines fashion techniques with photographic and installation media to define a hybrid visual language. |
Embodied Identity | Embodies hybrid identity, using material and methods that articulate belonging without reducing it. |
Public Engagement | Uses public action and installation to address social and material inequality through creative intervention. |
Legacy & Vision
Zohra Opoku offers a vivid model for future African creatives: design practised as cultural excavation, clothing as archive, and art as bridge between ancestry and self-expression. She affirms that textiles can carry narrative power—that identity is stitched into fabric, into form, into the physical. Her work inspires creatives to see heritage not as museum artefact, but as living, evolving dialogue—a medium for memory, resistance, and renewal.