Asafo Flags

Drums on the coast of Ghana, and a company marching behind its banner. Asafo flags, or frankaa, are the appliquéd and embroidered banners of the Fante asafo companies of coastal Ghana, the warrior associations that once defended their towns and still parade at festivals and funerals. Each carries a proverb in pictures: two men with a cow in a cooking pot, a man shooting at a steamer, a two-headed bird, a key and lock, elephants, vultures, snakes and lizards, cut from bright cotton and sewn onto a field, usually with a small Union Jack or, after 1957, the Ghanaian flag in the corner. The images taunted rival companies and declared strength; a flag was danced and waved, not merely hung.

Hand-stitched cotton in red, white, blue and saturated yellow, like folk paintings. Framed, an asafo flag holds a stairwell or a long wall with the confidence of a modern canvas. Insults, beautifully rendered.