Love in Danger

Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative Colours of Africa, a collaborative project with Google Arts & Culture, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them.

The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.

Colour:Love in Danger
Country:Ghana

Artwork Rationale:
The Ghana Flag is made up of red, yellow (with a black star) and green. Each colour represents our history and values.
The red in the flag represents the sacrifices made by the ancestors during the colonial ages, where some of our people – especially in the Asante Kingdom – had to go to war to claim their land from the colonial masters.
They were willing to sacrifice even their lives just so their loved ones and descendants could inherit the land that's rightfully theirs. The ancestors realised that their mother-land's freedom and independence was at stake. Without hesitation, they shed blood to fight for our freedom.
And so, till this day, we cherish that red. Because it represents the blood of our ancestors, the sacrifice they made for love when our lives and freedom were endangered.
Red is a colour that seems to be a bridge between feelings of negativity and positivity. It obviously could mean danger, hate, or pain – but could also mean love, passion, and sacrifice.
I chose to go for an artistic theme that merges both negativity and positivity in one scenario, but that ultimately draws our minds towards positive ways of relating to our social world.
It works like the yin and yang, which states that there’s a bit of evil in every good and a bit of good in every evil. In every love, there is danger. Probably danger in the fear of losing the one you love. Also in danger, there is love. What you do in a dangerous situation spells out the things or the people that matter to you the most.
The theme of my submission is ‘Love in Danger’ because it is when you find yourself in the most dangerous situations that you realise who you really love. No one enjoys the pain we go through when we lose someone we care about, and so, there’s always a reflex action when we see ourselves drawing close to experiencing that pain.
I believe knowing this fact and keeping it fresh in our minds would help us learn to cherish the people who really matter; those who would do whatever it takes just to see us smile. These people do not need to think twice before they decide to keep us safe, nor should we think twice about cherishing them and keeping them around and happy as much as we can.

To be African:

Being an African means you have the privilege of being a guardian to the heart of the earth. It means that the forces that sustain the earth have been put under your care. The people and the trees; the minerals, the rare wild creatures, the mountains, lakes and other river bodies, all are found in Africa, and as a native of the self-sustainable continent, it is my duty to protect it.

Bio:

Kwabena Agyei-Agyemang, aka KobbyToons, is an illustrator based in Kumasi, Ghana. He is currently in his final year of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Agyei-Agyemang’s inspiration for illustrating comes from a childhood love for cartoons and comics and the ambition to bring his own imagination to life. He is currently focused on building his skill in animation, both 2D and 3D, and hopes to start an animation movement in Ghana. In 2021 he interned with LetiArts, a Game Development Company in Accra, Ghana.
KobbyToons’ work was first exposed to a worldwide audience by YouTuber and tech-reviewer Marques Brownlee.