Recognizing Master Batik Artist Edward Lamptey:

A Hero Hiding in Plain view

Karl Q. Botchway, Ph.D

One of the unsung heroes in Contemporary African Art who deserves recognition is Master Batik Artist and Painter, Edward Lamptey.  I describe him as a product of the post-colonial Ghana School of Art.

Laboring in obscurity but nevertheless in plain view, Edward has produced important works in Batik Art, Textile Designs and Paintings.

Edward’s body of works involve the use of African motifs, which serves as his inspiration and central to his vocation and creativity.

For Edward Lamptey’s artistry,  these beautiful motifs rightly identified, serve as a repository of information about African belief systems and culture.

These motifs in the form of symbols represent concepts personified in human and animal forms and geometric shapes. Edward sees them as a profound philosophical statement on African cosmology.

His artistry borrows largely from the vocabulary of Yoruba and Akan traditional symbols. Using these motifs, Edward’s art communicates concepts about African societies and challenges the viewer to question how belief systems holds African societies together.

As he pointed out in an interview: “My work with motifs spans a period of over twenty years. As a Batik Artist and Painter, I have carved a niche creating Wall Hanging Batik Art to tell stories about African societies and cultures. My paintings over the years selectively incorporates these African motifs to tell stories. You can see me as a Griot keeping alive our collective memories and history through Art.”

Edward Lamptey was born  at Osu in Accra, Ghana. He had his secondary school education at Odorgono Secondary School in Accra, Ghana. As he narrates, he began painting at a very tender age on whatever he could set his eyes upon.

What he fancied most was the reproduction of images of colonial historical figures which he found in library books.  Not surprisingly, Fine Arts was one of his majors for his secondary school final exams.

He subsequently enrolled at the Polytechnic in Ibadan, Nigeria, where he specialized in painting with textile as his minor area. Edward has had an extensive exhibition history over the past twenty years. Some institutional, others personal, following the calendrical cycle of major art and cultural events in both Ghana and Nigeria.

Since 1996, he has participated in Group exhibitions and had his own Solo exhibitions. He has been invited to exhibit at all the Black Heritage Festivals from Badagary to Abuja in Nigeria. He has exhibited his works at all the PANAFEST Festivals in Ghana since 1997. And since 2016, he has exhibited in all Emancipation Day Programs showcasing his works in Batik Art.

Edward has been instrumental in organizing training workshops in Batik Art as a tool for economic empowerment with several NGOs in Ghana. In April 2019, he organized the Contemporary African Batik Training Workshop with the Rural Africa Development Foundation (RADeF), in Kwaso – Okorase, Ejisu, Ashanti Region.

Similarly, in April 2018 and 2019, he organized a Batik Art Exhibition and Workshop at the Department of Dance, School of Performance Art, University of Ghana.  At the International Children’s Arts and Cultural Festival (KIDDAFEST), in Accra 2018, he was a principal organizer in Batik Art Training.

To further promote the development of art, Edward created the Tourism Society of Ghana to train both international and local students in the basics of Batik Art.

Let us celebrate our unsung heroes by recognizing those who keep Contemporary African Art alive. Edward Lamptey is one of such heroes. He is a Master Batik Artist, Textile Designer and Painter.