Description
The Jamestown district of Accra is the historical heart of Ghana’s capital — the colonial period lighthouse, the James Fort, and the Christiansborg Castle marking the 17th-century European trading post origins of the city, now surrounded by a dense urban neighbourhood whose beach is the active landing ground for the Ga fishing community’s artisanal fleet. The aerial photograph of the Jamestown beach communicates the density and colour of the traditional canoe fleet — each vessel painted in individual colour combinations of blue, yellow, red, and green, many bearing religious inscriptions. This image was made from a drone at 80 metres altitude at low tide, when the full canoe fleet is hauled above the high-water mark and the beach is at its maximum canoe density. The James Fort’s whitewashed walls and the lighthouse are visible in the upper frame background. The colour diversity of the canoes against the dark sand beach is the image’s primary visual element.
