Object Name: Self Portrait with the Artist’s Tormentors

Artist: Kwame Akoto aka Almight God

Place of Origin: Kumase, Ghana

Cultural Group: Asante peoples

Materials Used: Paint on wood

Dimensions: H: 61.0 cm, W: 92.0 cm, D: 2.0 cm (H: 24.0 in, W: 36.2 in, D: .78 in)

Credit Line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Museum Purchase. X97.10.5

Kwame Akoto, who has adopted the name Almight God, has become a kind of Pentecostal painter. In this painting he shows himself trying to paint as three troublesome spiritual entities (Saint Anthony, whom the artist believe to be Satan in disguise, Mami Wata, and the forest spirit Tata Buta) loom large in the landscape of his imagination.

Source: Drewal, Henry John. (2008) “Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas”, Los Angeles, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History. page 66