TORONTO.- The Royal Ontario Museum presents Art, Honour, and Ridicule: Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana, this fall as part of its Of Africa project. The exhibition features flags, uniforms and musical instruments relating to the visual and performance art of the Fante militias of the West African country of Ghana. Asafo Flags will be on display from September 3, 2016 to February 27, 2017, in the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume.

Flags, called frankaa, are the prized possession of Asafo companies and are one of the ways these groups express their history and importance. Commissioned to commemorate the installation of new leaders, recall historical events, or assert a company’s superiority, the flags feature graphic imagery and appliqued designs of colourful figures, wild animals, traps, palm wine, and serpent-headed monsters. The images reference Akan proverbial knowledge, European heraldic images, and other iconographic sources interpreted by Fante textile artists. Today, the flags are displayed during funerals and ceremonies and celebrated in festivals throughout Ghana.

Asafo Flags features 106 objects, including 35 original flags from the Federico Carmignani Asafo Collection, recently acquired by the ROM through the generosity of the Louise Hawley Stone Trust. Also included are regalia, musical instruments, ceremonial head gear, and commemorative t-shirts along with historical and contemporary photographs and videos of performances and festivals, which are central to the display of Asafo pride. The exhibition is co-curated by Dr. Silvia Forni, ROM Curator of African Arts and Culture, and Doran H. Ross, former director of the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.

“Asafo Flags are beautiful and captivating artworks that originate from a complex history of contact, trade, resilience, and creativity. The exhibition offers ROM visitors the opportunity to experience the vibrant tradition of Fante flag culture that remains an important expression of local pride, dignity, and aesthetic,” said Dr. Forni.