Ghana Funeral Culture: How West Africans Honor the Dead With Custom Coffins, Fashion, and Ceremony
A life happened here, and it was worthy of celebration.
Hair Culture in West Africa: A Historical and Modern Perspective
Editor’s Note: This feature is part of Guzangs’ ongoing exploration of African hair traditions, tracing their evolution from spiritual practice to global artistry. This installment focuses on West Africa, following Part I, which explored North African hair traditions. Hair in West African cities like Lagos, Accra, Dakar, and Lomé has long been a profound symbol […]
The Future Feels Different Here: 7 African creatives who are reshaping design on their own terms
On April 21, the UN observed World Creativity and Innovation Day. But for many African designers, artists, and architects, that kind of thinking isn’t tied to a calendar. It’s just how the work gets done. Across the continent, new ideas are taking shape. Quietly. Experimentally. Sometimes defiantly. Some are working with buildings left unfinished for […]
Threads of Influence II: Colonial Dandyism and the Politics of Dress
From the late 19th to mid-20th centuries, as European colonial powers carved up Africa, a sartorial uprising simmered beneath the surface. In the shadow of Union Jacks, tricolores, and Belgian crowns, African men—across Lagos’s humid docks, Accra’s dusty streets, Leopoldville’s riverfront markets—took the European suit, that rigid emblem of imperial control, and stitched it into […]