Emmanuel Kwaku Yaro (b. 1995) is a self-taught Ghanaian mixed-media artist based in Accra. He has shown with Efie Gallery in Dubai and at Phillips in London, and a 2025 residency with Pearl Lam Galleries in Shanghai ended in a solo show. Building images from dots of acrylic and reclaimed materials – bags, nylon mats, wax-print fabrics – he portrays people from his community, celebrating African identity and dignity.
Emmanuel Kwaku Yaro (b. 1995, Ghana), also known as Kwaku Yaro, is a self-taught Ghanaian mixed-media artist who lives and works in the Labadi district of Accra. He combines acrylic paint with reclaimed materials – upcycled carrier bags, “Ghana Must Go” bags, burlap, woven nylon mats and wax-print fabrics – layered on polymer supports. His technique builds images from carefully placed spots of colour, a pointillist approach that he relates to Georges Seurat and to the Ghanaian painter Sami Bentil; he also cites Marie-Guillemine Benoist as an influence. Yaro’s portraits depict people from his community and inner circle – young Ghanaians, market women and elders – often dressed in elaborate costumes made from the reclaimed textiles. His work celebrates African identity, dignity and diverse body types while reflecting on the relationship between past and present and on the value of discarded materials. He is a member of the Accra-based collective Artemartis and has shown work with Efie Gallery in Dubai, Citronne Gallery in Athens and at Phillips in London. In 2025 he was artist-in-residence with Pearl Lam Galleries in Shanghai, culminating in the solo exhibition “Coat of Many Colours” at Pearl Lam Projects, which brought Chinese rattan mats and bamboo motifs into his practice. The work “True Self” (2022), acrylic, woven nylon and burlap on plastic, 182 × 136 cm, is offered by TUMO Gallery.
