UEW Workshop Bridges Indigenous Art and WebAR Through Sankofa Philosophy
The Department of Art Education at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) has hosted an innovative transcultural virtual workshop that demonstrated how indigenous artistic traditions can be reimagined through emerging digital technologies without sacrificing their cultural authenticity.
The workshop, themed “Return, Retrieve, Rise: Bridging Analogue Craft and WebAR Through the Sankofa Philosophy,” brought together students, artists and international collaborators to explore the intersection of traditional craftsmanship and Web-based Augmented Reality (WebAR).
Led by Mr. Ebenezer Kow Abraham of UEW’s Department of Art Education and facilitated by Ayuko Onoue, a Munich-based Japanese WebAR engineer and traditional kirie papercut artist, the workshop introduced participants to the Return, Retrieve, Rise (3Rs) pedagogical framework, inspired by the Ghanaian philosophy of Sankofa. The framework challenged students to rethink inherited artistic assumptions, reclaim indigenous visual languages and cultural symbols, and synthesise them with contemporary digital tools to create innovative artistic expressions.
A major highlight was Ayuko Onoue’s presentation on Love-Driven Development (LDD). This iterative creative approach encourages artists to begin with simple actions, refine their ideas through focused questioning and continually evolve their work. She emphasised that augmented reality should not replace traditional craftsmanship but rather serve as an immersive extension that enhances handmade creations while preserving their tactile authenticity.
The workshop combined keynote presentations, interactive discussions and hands-on studio practice. Students designed symbolic “Sankofa Eggs” using paper, coloured pencils and markers, drawing inspiration from personal aspirations, cultural memories and indigenous traditions before presenting their works for critique and discussing their potential for future WebAR integration.
One of the standout student projects, created by Stanley Adoma, explored the cultural significance of body piercing and ring adornment as symbols of identity and self-expression. Developed within the Return, Retrieve, Rise framework, the artwork illustrated how traditional cultural narratives can be preserved, reinterpreted and projected into interactive digital spaces, embodying the workshop’s vision of merging heritage with technological innovation.
The workshop echoes UEW’s commitment to advancing innovative art education by demonstrating that digital technologies can amplify, rather than diminish, indigenous artistic practices. Through international collaboration and creative experimentation, participants gained practical insights into how local cultural narratives can be transformed into globally accessible, immersive experiences while remaining firmly rooted in their cultural identity.
