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A ongoing project founded by Raquel van Haver

“GlassLab Tamale and the alledged ' Witch Camps’, working title, is a collaboration between Studio Raquel van Haver founded by

Raquel van Haver and Red Clay Studio, Ibrahim Mahama. The project has two major strands, engagement with the alledged Witch camps in the north of Ghana and the erection of a glass-workshop, concluding in an exhibition at the end of its seven year span (2021-2029) as the start of the opening of the workshop space that Will be running under the umbrella of Redclay and Studio Raquel van Haver and Will be closely connected with KNUST ( the art university in Kumasi, Ghana).

Other mayor players and parnters, founders and supportives are Ghana Glass, based in Accra, GH, Stichting Stokroos, NL, The Dutch embassy in Accra, GH , Nationaal glasmuseum, leerdam, NL, GlasLab Denbosch, Udenhout, NL and de Fundatie, Zwolle, NL.

The exhibition; At its hart, the project gives voice to the man, women and children held in the alleged witch-camps across Ghana ( focusing on the Northern region and the Volta region) using art, folklore, tradition and rituals as a way to tell their their personal stories and to set up a new ecosystem. All of this will be done through mainly, glass, beads, blown glass and sculptural works, glass has been carefully chosen as a medium, making use of the local material that is in abundance in the northernmost part of Ghana, its arid conditions and surrounding deserts resulting in access to vast quantities of sand — that when processed can produce glass.

The project at large ; A glass workshop will be built to bring these works to fruition, revealing

the deeply functional and sustainable identity of the project, alongside its creative vision to

support emerging artists through experimentation in this age-old craft of glass making. Not only by the old craft but with the collaboration of local glass houses all around the world from Leerdam, the Netherlands to Murano , venice , Italy to Tamale , Ghana; where Studio Raquel van Haver and the Glasslab will fuse new technology with glassmaking. To renew an old tradition by honoring the technique.

Beginning in 2021, with plans to extend to 2029, this long term project has seen Raquel van

Haver and the Titambe glass team will develop a new body of work, where storytelling

becomes a means to explore community, local materials, sustainability and cultural heritage

in a part of Ghana which the artist has frequented over the last few years through her

colleague and friend Ibrahim Mahama, artist. Its various activations across its four year span will

result in a showcase and traveling exhibition starting in 2029, from Ghana to the Netherlands, from the Netherlands through Europe, latin America and West Africa. A body of works produced over the project’s timeline and the permanence of the glass workshop itself and its international collaborators and makers.

Every show will be produced again by a local team of glassmakers to connect but also to maintain the collaboration within the works and techniques.

Focusing on the alleged witches and wizards and To build an infrastructure and a safety net,this project will educate and professionalize glassblowers and bead makers( from the villages ) and give them the tools to set up an independent workshop to maintain freedom and sustain a proper income for the participants and their families, while the Taboo of witchcraft can be discussed under a larger group within the community and the oral story telling can be archived for the future.