Johannes Thomas Arthur holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and is working on a master’s degree at the same institution. He served as the Creative and Projects Coordinator with a non-governmental organization RECNOWA, an innovative social enterprise that trained and employed street youth from disadvantaged communities in Ghana to clear their streets of plastic and other materials, and then collaborated with Ghanaian artisans to upcycle the waste into handmade furniture, clothing, handbags, and home décor.  He has trained over 20 school classrooms and artisan groups in the creative reuse and recycling of materials considered as “waste.”

“I now do not consider materials as ‘waste’, but as ‘materials in transit’ and because of this I am always seeking new things I can make.”

Johannes’s work seen below, and featured in our gallery through the month of October 2013, was made with materials from The Resource Exchange. While creating here at the re, he honed in on the harder to use items, like cardboard tubes and printed vinyl from theatre sets and textile remnants from local businesses. He said, “I was excited when I was told I would be doing my internship as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative at The Resource Exchange. I wish to call this exhibition of the work I was able to do here ‘SEASONS.’  It is inspired by cloth samples of different colors and textures that I sought to depict the different seasons in the world that are greatly being affected by global warming.”

After completing the Washington Fellowship, he hopes to build the largest reuse/recycling facility in Ghana, including programs for artists.