09 · Fante coast, Ghana · 19th century onward
Fante Asafo Appliqué Flags
Along Ghana's coast, every Fante town has Asafo companies — community groups once organised for defence, now for festivals, public works, and ceremony. Each company flies flags sewn from bold cut-out cloth shapes: lions, elephants, people, boats, trees, stars — each picture a proverb that boasts about the company. Colours are flat and saturated, figures stitched straight onto a bright ground, often with a fringe. They are witty, proud, and meant to be read from across a crowd.
Kwamena Ansah and the Asafo flag makers
flag makers, 19th c.–present
Asafo flags are made by specialist flag makers commissioned by each company, working from proverbs the company chooses. They cut shapes from cotton cloth and stitch them onto a coloured field, sometimes on both sides so the image reads either way. Kwamena Ansah was one of the best known twentieth-century makers. A flag's proverb might say 'we are the lion no one can touch' — the picture does the boasting.
Look for
- bold cut-cloth appliqué figures
- flat saturated color, no shading
- proverb-based picture
- visible stitching
- fringed border on a bright field
You've walked the cycle for 09.
Now take that language into Studio Night. As the Style Curator in Act III, you can name this tradition and watch the whole class scene take it on.