Tag: Rita Mawuena Benissan

Rita Mawuena Benissan (b. 1987, Accra, Ghana; lives and works between Accra and London) creates textile-based works that reimagine cloth as a carrier of history, identity and collective memory. Drawing on the visual languages of West African textiles—particularly kente and wax print—she assembles layered tapestries, flags and sculptural hangings that speak to migration, hybridity and belonging.

Benissan’s practice is both archival and contemporary. Traditional patterns are cut, reconfigured and combined with symbols drawn from music, sport, pop culture and personal experience, producing compositions that feel rhythmic and expansive. Fabric becomes a storytelling device: soft yet resilient, intimate yet public, capable of holding multiple narratives at once.

Rooted in ideas of movement and cultural exchange, her work reflects on how identities are formed across borders and generations. Through colour, pattern and material intelligence, Benissan transforms textile into a space of affirmation—one that honours lineage while embracing change, and positions craft as a dynamic, forward-looking language within contemporary art.