Girls Like Us by Rufai Zakari
Ghanaian artist Rufai Zakari’s portraits are stitched together from flattened, upcycled plastics. In, Girls Like Us at @KHjellegjerde, London the artist pays homage to the strength, resilience and beauty of African women. Visit: https://kristinhjellegjerde.com/exhibitions/423/overview/
Women stand confidently, dressed in glamorous outfits. They pose against bold, colorful backgrounds or lean out of car windows, enjoying a moment of rest. Ghanaian artist Rufai Zakari creates these portraits using flattened, upcycled plastics. The textures are vivid, connecting deeply to the land, culture, and craft traditions. In his solo exhibition Girls Like Us at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery near Tower Bridge, Zakari honors African women. His subjects are mothers, sisters, wives, friends, entrepreneurs, and traders. Zakari believes these women are the backbone of society, even if their work often goes unnoticed or undervalued.
Recently, Zakari interviewed women from his family and community. He asked how their experiences challenge society’s expectations. The exhibition’s title comes from a phrase many women used. It reflects both their kinship and how people make assumptions about them based on their roles. Zakari notes that when a woman appears to live a certain lifestyle, people often assume a man is behind her success. Few consider the possibility that she achieved it on her own. He also highlights a common Western view that African women are mostly housewives. However, in Ghana, more women work in business than men. They earn money and care for their families.
Through his portraits, Zakari highlights the unseen work and struggles of these women. He reminds us that appearances don’t reveal the whole story. For example, one portrait shows a woman in a pink headscarf against a bright yellow and orange background. She looks confident and glamorous, wearing red lipstick and sunglasses. Behind her, a circular shape resembles both a halo and a spotlight, showing her importance. Inside the circle, silhouettes of women carrying heavy loads symbolize struggle. This image recalls Zakari’s childhood memories of women, including his mother, carrying belongings over long distances. It also represents the work of “kayaye,” women employed as head porters in markets. For the woman in the portrait, this image may reflect her past profession or the emotional burdens she continues to bear.
In another portrait, a woman sits on a bed, dressed beautifully. She looks outward, clearly in control of the space. We are the intruders, interrupting her rest. In the mirror, we see a different version of her. Here, she sleeps in a pan used by kayaye to carry goods. The text on the labels surrounding her adds a sense of movement and chaos. This contrasts with the calm order of the bedroom. Once again, Zakari reveals a story of unseen struggle. Even when duality isn’t explicitly represented, his materials—upcycled trash—tell a tale of labor, hardship, renewal, and transformation.
Zakari plays with this idea in a portrait of a woman driving a car made from flattened Cadbury’s hot chocolate packets. From a distance, the shiny purple packets seem precious. Only up close do we recognize the labels. Zakari believes this symbolizes how we only begin to understand someone’s full story when we look deeper.