This special photo project with Burberry allowed the model to revisit her roots and marry her love of fashion with her cultural history.
Activist and model Adwoa Aboah revealed the third part of her photo project with Burberry shot by Juergen Teller and this time it's more personal than ever. The British- Ghanaian model revisits her roots and is able to marry her love of fashion with her cultural history and the result is pure magic.
In a poignant Instagram post, the model of the moment shared a photo of her and her family in Ghana where the campaign was shot.
She and four members of her family including her grandmother and aunts are shown wearing traditional Ghanaian attire designed by her aunt but made of vintage Burberry fabrics. In the caption, Adwoa shares her relationship to her heritage in Ghana where her father was born, and how it has shaped her.
Adwoa writes in the post:
Going home, back to the motherland. A place where I felt like an outsider but always wanted to belong. Growing up differently, never knowing the mother tongue." She goes on to talk about how most people have only seen one side of Ghana, and how she now wants to put a spotlight on the beautiful country. She goes on, "I want the world to know that there are two families, both that mean the world to me, two sides to my story. I want the world to see the beauty and Ghana to have that moment in the light, one that it has always deserved. I have been claimed by Ghana, told to go and show the world, make them proud. I belong. So that’s what this is, a message of love and pride to my family and the people of Ghana.
This photo project is just part of a three-part collaboration between Adwoa and British brand Burberry.
For the full project with Burberry, Adwoa shot initially in her hometown of London, then in New York where she currently resides.
Speaking exclusively to Vogue magazine, Adwoa talked about why Ghana holds a very special place in her heart, "It feels like home because I have so many lovely memories from there. I think it feels like home, more so because it was where my dad grew up and it is very much a part of him. He is such a family man and he has really taken that into our family and had such a presence in mine and my sister's life. Although we didn’t grow up in a completely African household, there have been certain hints throughout our whole life. Even though I have felt like an outsider, I always secretly felt like it was home."
Her work on this project shows how fashion can allow for meaningful cultural appreciation rather than approporiation.
For a brand such as Burberry to allow Adwoa to explore her roots so freely shows how luxury brands are understanding that in order to move with the times, they need to look at the world in a larger context and look to new frontiers like Africa for authentic and respectful inspiration.