Godfried Donkor: It’s a Numbers Game

Key Takeaways

• Firstsite hosts Donkor's first UK institutional exhibition
• Works blend Financial Times text with African figures
• Exhibition links Britain, West Africa, Caribbean trade histories
• Boxing ring installation symbolizes migration and endurance
• Donkor also featured in 61st Venice Biennale

Pulse Analysis

Godfried Donkor’s "It’s a Numbers Game" arrives at Firstsite as a rare institutional platform for the Ghanaian‑British artist, whose practice has long navigated the tangled legacies of empire, commerce and identity. The exhibition, on view from late May through August, showcases a hybrid visual language that fuses collage, painting, embroidery and large‑scale installations. By inserting Financial Times excerpts alongside archival photographs and Adinkra motifs, Donkor creates a dialogue between the mechanisms of global finance and the cultural symbols that have survived colonial disruption. This method invites viewers to reconsider how economic data and visual iconography co‑construct power.

Beyond its formal ambition, the show foregrounds a "triangle of commerce" that historically connected Britain, West Africa and the Caribbean. Donkor juxtaposes the resistance of England’s Boudicca with Ghana’s Yaa Asantewaa, linking local British narratives to African anti‑colonial struggles. The inclusion of a boxing‑ring installation further extends the metaphor of sport as a site of migration, endurance and exchange, echoing the artist’s recurring theme of competition as a lens for cultural negotiation. Such cross‑regional storytelling resonates amid today’s heightened interest in decolonizing museum narratives.

The timing of the exhibition is strategic: it dovetails with Donkor’s participation in the 61st Venice Biennale, amplifying his profile on the world stage and underscoring Firstsite’s commitment to ambitious contemporary art. By presenting works that interrogate financial systems, heraldic authority and textile traditions, the gallery positions itself at the forefront of institutions re‑examining historical accountability. For collectors, curators and cultural policymakers, Donkor’s show offers a compelling case study of how art can surface hidden economic histories and inspire new conversations about shared futures.