21 - Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne (b. 1983) | Ghanaian

Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne (b. 1983) | Ghanaian Awo, 2017 Mixed Media Signed: Signed and dated ’17’ (lower right); titled ‘AWO’, dated 2017, inscribed with the dimensions and signed on the reverse. Dimensions: Artwork: 121 × 96.5 cm | 47.6 × 38 in Provenance: Bonhams, London, Modern & Contemporary African Art (online), 30 June – 14 July 2026, lot 39. Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. Condition: Fabric collage, stitched and painted, on raw canvas. The work is stable; the canvas shows the creases and marks of the artist’s process and a few small stains on the reverse, where the title is written; the stitching and the fabric pieces are secure. Unframed. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report. Conditions of Sale: All lots are sold as is, in the condition described. The condition summary is given as a courtesy; a full condition report is available on request before the sale. Attributions are governed by our Terms and Conditions. All enquiries must be made before bidding; no further information can be provided after the sale. By placing a bid you confirm that you have read and accept our Terms and Conditions in full, as set out in the terms of this sale. Shipping: Aurora & Athena coordinates professional, insured shipping for every purchase through vetted logistics partners: packing, transport, insurance and the export paperwork are arranged on the buyer's behalf and charged at the provider's cost. Buyers are equally welcome to collect in Barcelona or to appoint a carrier of their own. Lots are released once the total purchase price has been received. For shipments outside the EU an export licence may be required and Spanish export duties may apply to certain higher-value works; these are the buyer's responsibility. No export tax applies within the EU. Full shipping and export information is available on request. -- A woman stands in profile with a hand raised to her head, her whole body cut from African wax-print cottons: a green and blue floral headwrap, a striped sleeve, a blouse of orange paisley with yellow combs and a skirt of rust-red leaves, each piece stitched to the canvas so that the seams show. Behind her a lattice of pale blue and turquoise diamonds is filled with rings, rosettes and dots cut from the same printed cloths. ‘Awo’ is the title the artist wrote on the back: in Ga, the language of Accra, it is the word for mother, or for an older woman addressed with respect. Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne (born 1983 in Accra) builds his portraits from the printed fabrics of the Ghanaian market, the wax prints whose patterns carry names, proverbs and Adinkra symbols, stitching and painting them onto canvas; the figure is anonymous, the cloth tells her story. Made in 2017, the year after the artist’s first European shows, the work is unframed and unstretched on its stitched canvas, as he exhibits them.