1. The Verbal-Visual Connection
Akan Linguist Staffs
The Verbal-Visual Connection

2. Ghana is a very rich country known for its gold trading
Ghana is a very rich country known for its gold trading. For a long time they did not have written language so their oral tradition is very important

3. Ashanti Culture
For a long time there was not a written language so the oral tradition is very important and well developed
Kente Cloth is a famous type of cloth,
The cloth displays Adinkra Symbols.
Each symbol has a special meaning.
Akan Chief,
Ghana,
20th century

4. Remember Keith Haring? He worked with symbols too.
Studying and using symbols is called SEMIOTICS.

5. Akan linguists, Ghana/Ivory Coast, 20th century

6. "No one goes to the house of the spider Ananse to teach him wisdom”
"No one goes to the house of the spider Ananse to teach him wisdom”. Akan Linguist staff, Ghana, wood and Gold leaf, 20th century.
"It is better not to have fired at all than to fire and only wound the leopard.”

7. “Paddling the boat on both sides makes it go straight”,
Akan Linguist staff, Ghana, wood and Goldleaf, 20th cent.
“It is the rightful owner of the food who gets to eat it”,
Akan linguist staff, Ghana, painted wood, 20th century.

8. “ Birds of the Same Species roost in the Same Tree”
Wood & Goldleaf, 20th century
“one person does not rule a nation”
Akan Linguist staff, Ghana, wood & Goldleaf
20th century.

9. Leopard standing on another Leopard, Goldweights
Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, 17th-19th century

10. Goldweights with conventionalized Arabic and Roman characters
Brass with copper plugs, 15th-17th century,

11. Goldweights representing animals, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast
Brass, 17th-19th century

12. Man carrying palmwine; man on horse back with a spear;
woman with a bowl on her head and a child on her back—Goldweights,
Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, brass, 17th-19th century

13. Man playing drums; man with a side blown trumpet
Goldweights, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, brass, 17-19th century

14. Geometric shapes, Goldweights, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast
Brass, 17-19th century

15. Two persons on a stool; woman regarding herself in a mirror; man on a stool
Holding a parasol, Goldweights, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, 17th century

16. Pangolin, Goldweight, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, brass
17th-19th century

17. Goldweights representing artifacts, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast, brass, 17th-19th century

18. Goldweights representing stools and game boards, Akan, Ghana/Ivory Coast
17th-19th century