Growing Pains
Economic opportunities challenge tradition and culture in Northern Ghana
Northern Ghana is changing. Money and technology bring new opportunities to villages and towns left behind by development along the Bay of Guinea, affording today’s youth possible futures unknown a generation ago. But alongside new jobs come conflicts between tradition and modernity, parents and children, and those who will benefit and those who won’t.
Danish photographer Ulrik Tofte stationed himself in the regional hub of Tamale to see how economic progress was impacting daily life. He wandered the city, West Africa’s fastest growing urban area, and took day trips into the neighboring countryside to meet with people who were at the center of this transition. The resulting photo essay, The Key is Not to Blink, captures a generation with a lot to gain, and possibly a lot to lose, and not a lot of time to figure it out for themselves.
“The title refers to the difficulties in maneuvering in such a society where they have to be very focused because there are so many pitfalls they can trip into,” says Tofte. “The ground rule of traditional portraiture is that you do not blink when your picture is taken.”
In order to fund his work Tofte partnered with Ghana Friendship Group, a Danish development NGO which introduced him to local leaders and helped track down people who fit the social roles he hoped to portray. He wasn’t as interested in reporting on the booming economy so much as how the idea of normal life is changing.
Cell phones have brought social media to everyone’s fingertips, allowing one-on-one connections in a way that wasn’t possible a few years ago. The individuality that has blossomed stands in sharp contrast to the collective identity especially common in the small villages scattered throughout the region.
“We wanted to tell stories that were reflective, poetic and put issues regarding youth in a different light,” he says. “Growing up and being young in Northern Ghana where a rapid cultural, economic and social change is taking place is a balancing act between their cultural heritage and new modern life.”
The point where two cultures meet is familiar territory to Tofte. His family was conservative and middle-class, quite different from the left-wing, socially-conscious high school sweetheart he married. Upon arrival in Tamale he expected to experience radical displacement but found kids growing up in Ghana were pretty much the same as kids growing up in Scandinavia, just with different options.
Even the fact that the region is predominantly Muslim, in contrast to the heavily Christian south of the country, didn’t add any particular exoticism to his trip, but Tofte believes elements of local traditions present fault lines between young and old.
Despite new employment opportunities and a rising consumer class many kids are expected to follow in their parents’ footsteps. He met people who abandoned their own dreams to stay in family businesses, and he met young women whose potential was sacrificed to give their brothers an advantage. Beyond social mores the increasing amount of wealth finding its way to Northern Ghana has begun to create a disparity between haves and have-nots.
“We met those who experienced a rise in opportunities and who where gifted enough to pursue them,” says Tofte. “But we also met those who neither had the skills or the position to pursue them. For instance; the girls who thrashed rice where bound to do that, because they where girls. Girls are obliged to help out in the family. For the same reason fewer girls than boys are educated.”
Amidst the changing landscape a traditional respect for elders holds fast, something Tofte and his partners had to contend with constantly. They asked community leaders for permission to shoot before setting up shop, and even when permission was granted Tofte’s interpreter was tasked with explaining the project and courting allowance from any older folks who happened to be passing by on the street.
One day Tofte was shooting a group of children fishing, drawing the wrath of a local drunk who refused to believe that the village chief had granted the photographer his blessings to work. An argument ensued, and neither the old man nor Tofte’s fixer would back down.
“We spent one and a half hours calling and summoning various representatives of the local community, and ultimately had to call the chief’s personal secretary who came out and settled the issue,” he says. “We were entitled to take pictures, but the moment had passed. It was quite a sight because it drew a lot of attention and people participated in the debate but finally my interpreter’s honor was restored.”
During the trip Tofte contracted malaria. In Accra he was examined by doctors in an air-conditioned hospital and waited for lab results eating a hamburger and watching TV in a cafe. In Tamale he was sent from clinic to clinic. The experience revealed how economically divided Ghana is, and how much progress the north has yet to attain.
“Nothing was working and we had to visit three laboratories before they could diagnose me,” Tofte says. “The hospital only had one doctor and at least 20 people where waiting in front of me. It was filthy and when I was given my injection it was in a room with a lot of other patients where needles and syringes where lying on the beds.”
A bad medical experience hasn’t soured Tofte on reporting stories in developing nations. He prefers taking assignments from NGOs than from news agencies, who tend to only send journalists to cover crises, not the personal stories he’s interested in.
Photography has been a life’s ambition for Tofte. It started during childhood in Horsens where his grandfather introduced him to the magic of the darkroom. After school he found little financial support for his personal projects, and relied on editorial work to help raise his family. Now that his wife has become a psychologist and their twins are old enough to occupy themselves, he’s finally able to focus on his own projects. This is the first time in his life he feels able to concentrate on the stories that matter to him.
The Key is Not to Blink is completed, but the themes continue in future work. Currently Tofte is dividing his time between personal projects and partnering with an NGO that helps polio victims. Ultimately he wants to continue exploring the universal characteristics of everyone, and to find what constitutes normal life whether it be in Denmark, Ghana, or beyond.
“What interests me is how the mixture of cultural codes influences and affects us in relation to other people,” he says. “I see photography as a way of addressing the pressure that society exerts on the individual and how the individual deals with this. It is not for the purpose of truth but as a method that offers a different manner of perception.”
During his trip to Tamale Tofte filmed a short interview with Macarthy Lomotey, a young man who was assisting the photographer. He epitomizes the challenges faced by young Ghanians who are filled with ambition but feel constricted by the modern day realities of their home.
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