Araba Opoku Ghanian, b. 1998

Araba Opoku is a Ghanaian artist whose acrylic paintings explore the psychological and political symbolism of water. Opoku’s paintings adopt a fluid process with abstract and geometric forms that reference the textures of the natural environment and
comment on the water crisis in Ghana. The artist channels water’s creative and destructive potential, depicting surfaces that are placid and distorted, networks and grids that suggest both unheeded movement and the interruptions of time and human intervention. For Opoku, water represents abundance and scarcity, at once referencing freedom, restraint, and
uncertainty.

Araba Opoku received a BA in Psychology from the University of Ghana. She has exhibited at several group exhibitions in Ghana, UK, and the USA. Her work was showcased at Art X Lagos in 2021, and resides in several collections in New York, Lagos, London, and Ghana. She was awarded the inaugural Yaa Asantwewaa Art Prize by Gallery 1957 in 2021. In 2022, she was a Junior Fellow of the Noldor Residency. In 2023, she was included in the group exhibition Beneath the Surface at Lehman Maupin. She is a member of the Artemartis Art Collective.