By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, Nov 07, GNA – Foto4Change, a photography and visual storytelling non-government organization (NGO), has launched the second edition of the Northern Ghana Foto Festival in Tamale.
The festival, which will feature a major photographic exhibition documenting the seven years and seven months reign of the late Overlord of Dagbon, is aimed at preserving the kingdom’s history and cultural heritage for future generations.
It is on the theme: “Yaa Naa’s Reign” and will feature 287 selected photographs documenting the reign of the late Yaa Naa through the lenses of eight photographers offering a visual account of the kingdom’s traditions, ceremonies, institutions, people and cultural identity.
The six-day festival, scheduled for November 16 to 21, 2026 at the Tamale Cultural Centre, is expected to bring together photographers, traditional authorities, researchers, cultural practitioners, tourism stakeholders and members of the public to explore the role of photography in documenting history and preserving cultural memories.
The launch attracted distinguished personalities including Alhaji Mohammed Haroon, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Dagbon Strategic Development Secretariat; Mr Angelo Dogbe, the Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority; Mrs Antoinette Dzorgbenyuie Kotoko-Letsa, the Acting Regional Director of the Centre for National Culture, Northern Region; Mr Samuel Ato Afful, the Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Multimedia and Dr Gloria Bob-Milliar, Senior Lecturer at the University for Development Studies and member of the festival’s organising committee.
Mr Geoffrey Buta, the Team Lead of Foto4Change and multiple award-winning Ghanaian photojournalist, speaking during the launch, said the initiative began in 2019 out of the need to create a comprehensive photographic archive of the reign of the Yaa Naa.
He said the project was inspired by concerns about the limited availability of comprehensive and collectively accessible photographic records documenting the reigns of past Dagbon chiefs.
He explained that although oral history remained an important means of transmitting the kingdom’s history, there was an urgent need to complement it with visual documentation that could be preserved and accessed by present and future generations.
He said failing to document important historical developments risked depriving future generations of valuable records of their cultural identity and heritage.
He stressed that the project was not merely about photographing a traditional ruler but documenting an important period in the history of Dagbon including its customs, traditional institutions, ceremonies, people and the relationship between the King and his subjects.
Mr Buta said more than 10,000 photographs had been taken since the project began in 2019, with 287 carefully selected for the exhibition.
He said the collection provided an opportunity for audiences to appreciate the historical and cultural significance of the reign through photographs that captured different aspects of life in the kingdom.
He said the exhibition was also intended to encourage African communities to take greater responsibility for documenting their histories rather than relying solely on external accounts of their cultural experiences.
Mr Buta said the festival would provide a platform for photographers and other creative practitioners to use visual storytelling to preserve cultural heritage and promote Northern Ghana’s identity.
Mr Angelo Dogbe, Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority said tourism promotion should go beyond the development of physical infrastructure, stressing that the region’s existing cultural traditions, heritage and identity constituted important tourism assets.
He said Northern Ghana had rich cultural resources that could attract visitors if properly documented, packaged and promoted.
Mrs Antoinette Dzorgbenyuie Kotoko-Letsa, Acting Regional Director of the Centre for National Culture, Northern Region, said the festival would provide an important platform for cultural education, historical documentation and public engagement.
She said cultural festivals should not be viewed solely as entertainment activities but also as opportunities to educate people about their history, traditions and cultural expressions.
Mr Samuel Ato Afful, Chief Executive Officer of Vanguard Multimedia, and the festival’s official media partner, said photography played a significant role in communication, documentation and the preservation of collective memories.
He said photographs served as visual evidence of historical events and experiences enabling people to communicate stories across language barriers while creating lasting records for future reference.
Beyond the main exhibition on the Yaa Naa’s reign, the festival will feature immersive Virtual Reality experiences, photographic slideshows, a heritage dialogue on cultural archiving and preservation, and other public engagement activities.
The activities are expected to create opportunities for participants to explore the intersection of photography, technology, history and cultural preservation while encouraging conversations on how communities can document and safeguard their heritage.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Solomon Gumah
Email address: [email protected]