For its fifth edition, the ellipse Prize takes root in Ghana – a land of diverse imaginations, where ancient spiritualities, urban modernities, and colonial memories converge. 

This year the ellipse art projects endowment fund reaffirms its commitment to Africa’s emerging art scenes by providing a young Ghanaian artist with professional support and international exposure. 

Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku is the recipient of the 2025 award.

Founded in 2020 at the initiative of Ellipse Projects, an international company active in Africa and Asia, the ellipse Prize was born out of a desire for circulation of ideas, practices, and voices. Each edition explores a territory, a theme, a current…

The 2025 edition will celebrate the work of Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku with a debut presentation at AKAA. A multi-disciplinary artist and civil engineer based in Ghana, he has developed a socially engaged practice centered around second-hand clothing collected from beaches, landfills, and the Kantamanto market. Through dyeing, assemblage, and textile recomposition techniques, he transforms these discarded materials into installations that probe memory, identity, and overconsumption.

Through his work, Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku sheds light on the environmental and social consequences of fast fashion, while also addressing the colonial legacy embedded in the global circulation of garments. His approach at the intersection of history, ecology, and intimate storytelling reveals how the excesses of the Global North silently shape the realities of the Global South.