ART-THERAPY-INFORMED POTENTIALS OF SELECTED INDIGENOUS ASANTE VISUAL ARTWORKS

Abstract

Through qualitative, interpretivist, art-therapy-informed ethnographic design, this study interrogates how indigenous Asante visual artworks operate as therapeutic cultural mirrors that facilitate socio-emotional expression, psychological wellbeing, and identity construction among the people of Ashanti. Using twenty purposively sampled participants consisting of traditional artists, custodians of cultural heritage, art-therapy practitioners, educators and community members, I collected data through semi-structured interviews, participatory artistic product making sessions, participant observation, and visual-symbolic analysis across key communities for artistic cultural production and or archiving namely Bonwire, Ahwiaa, Ntonso, and Manhia Palace Museum. Thematic, arts-based and symbolic interpretive analyses reveal that practices such as kente weaving, stamping technique of Adinkra printing, wood carving, and pottery function as potent non-verbal conduits for mood and affect regulation, offering rhythmic, repetitive processes that engender calm, reflection, and catharsis. Symbolic motif designs embedded in these artistic media encode complex socio-emotional, and moral narratives that enable communal healing and reinforcement of collective identity. Heritage artefacts including the Okomfo Anokye Sword, Golden axe, Unity Bowl, and coward sword, emerge as indigenous psychological unitary relics that historically mediated behaviour, sustained social cohesion, and nurtured resilience. These findings align with emerging scholarship on the therapeutic potential of African visual traditions, underscoring their relevance for culturally responsive mental-health interventions in Ghana. Asante visual artworks represent a culturally grounded therapeutic resource applicable to contemporary counseling, mental-health education, and community-based practices. They can inform counselor-training curricula, collaborative frameworks linking traditional practitioners, museums, and mental-health professionals, and the preservation of holistic wellbeing knowledge systems.