History of self, culture & longing for self-understanding are some main driving factors for Kwaku Opoku’s work. Through countless conversations and interactions with nature and his immediate surroundings, he often curates and creates a slew of experiments that help get him close to this longing for self-understanding.

In the last 12 years of his life, Kwaku had battled a neurological condition that further pushed him to confront identity in his work. This particular experience developed a deep investigative mindset. Traces of this way of thinking can be seen in how he fragments and dissects portraits in pieces like ScreeNkrumah and in films he’s worked on like Free Dome. This same deep investigative approach is very evident in all work Kwaku creates.

He is constantly in conversation with nature to find answers and solutions to almost any problem. In collaboration with Small Hype, he has spent the last three years engaging with a deteriorating wetland in his hometown, Tema. The goal here is to replant and rebuild the wetland’s biological character. This project, dubbed We Have Decided, has developed many projects like Trash-ID. Trash-ID explores the harmful effects and overpopulation of black polythene bags in his hometown.