New world record auction price for work by Brighton-linked African artist

Made Honorary Doctor of Arts by University of Brighton in 2019, Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey explores the sociopolitical, economic, environmental, and cultural legacies of colonialism in Africa. He is best known as the founder of Afrogallonism, creating works fashioned using yellow plastic jerrycans known as Kufuor gallons – introduced by European colonisers as a way to transport cooking oil, but now widely called on to collect water in a country where even in Ghana's capital Accra, only 10 per cent of people have reliable in-house water taps.

Afrogallonism's reminders of how colonial pasts still manifest in the everyday are complemented by elaborate politically-charged costumes and tapestries Dr Clottey and other artists are producing as part of the GoLokal artistic initiative.

Serge Attukwei Clottey

Dr Clottey's record-setting work - sold in London on 15 October - was from a new project called Fashion Icons, a series of portraits composed from strips of duct-tape arranged on cork boards, exploring fashion, image-making and identity construction. These were first shown in a 2021 solo exhibition Beyond Skin at Simchowitz Gallery, Los Angeles.

In 2019, Dr Clottey staged a solo show at Brighton's Fabrica gallery as part of the Brighton Festival. He also took part in a series of events at Brighton in 2018, as part of a wider collaboration established with academics at the university, entitled Arts4CommunityDevelopment, led by Professor Marina Novelli.

Professor Novelli, Academic Lead for the university’s Responsible Futures Research and Enterprise Agenda, said: "Clottey’s work is simply genius and his latest success is just another recognition of this. I wish to personally congratulate him and share how privileged we feel at the University of Brighton to have him as one of our key collaborators. As Honorary Doctor of the university, he continues to inspire staff and students and we are proud to share this news as an example of his skills, determination and success equal to none."