Today, we are spotlighting the work of photographer and documentarian, Collette V. Fournier. Fournier’s latest series, “Queen Mother of Progress,” explores the role of Queen Mothers, or traditional female leaders derived from royal lineage, within the Ghanaian community.
In Fournier’s words:
“‘Queen Mother of Progress’ is a documentation of an African-American woman, Nana Alexandreena Dixon, who is the Executive Director of Chiku Awali African Arts and Culture based in Rockland County, NY. Nana Dreena was invited to become the Queen Mother of Progress for the Ghanaian village of Bepoase in 2010 by Pastor and Drummer, Jerry Dzokoto, and educational administrator, Duah Kwaku.
I photographed the enstoolment ceremony in 2010 and visited Bepoase’s school children with educational gifts in 2017. With a strong belief in documenting our own stories, it is my mission to see this Afrocentric exhibition of her journey in museums and cultural institutions complete with captioned material.”
Image 1: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): Ms. Alexandreena Dixon enstooled as The Queen Mother of Progress. Surrounded by Queen Mothers of neighboring villages; Alexandreena Dixon was enstooled on Aug. 19th, 2010 as Nana Yaa Oforiwaa Amanfo I; (Queen Mother of Progress) for Bepoase; Ghana. Nana Yaa is responsible for helping the village grow economically. The durbar began with wailing to the village palace to be seated among the chiefs and elders. The four-hour celebration consisted of dancing; speeches; and the traditional rituals of being raised and lowered three times on the stool then being dusted with a white powder as a form of protection. Due to the solemn nature of the occasion; she was draped in black kente. After the enstoolment, she changed to the ceremonial white and black kente. I was able to join her in April 2017 to photograph portraits of the people of Beopase and assist Nana Dreena with Administrative duties. Her mother, Mrs. Janet Fritz joined her for the Durbar special occasion. © Collette V. Fournier
Image 2: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): Ms. Dreena’s Enstoolment. Protection, white powder clay, is poured over the new Queen Mother as she is given a new name and new persona. The solemnity of the enstoolment ceremony required the new nkɔsoɔhemmaa (Asante word for Queen Mother of Progress) to be dressed in black. After the ritual of the stool she is given her new name, Nana Yaa Oforiwaa Amafo I. © Collette V. Fournier
Image 3: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): The community of Bepoase gather to watch the enstoolment of the African-American Queen Mother of Progress. Some people get a great view from Bepoase's Administration building seen in the background. © Collette V. Fournier
Image 4: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): Entertainment provided at the Durbar during Nana Dreena’s ceremony to become a Queen Mother. Ras Pinto and drummers accompany dancing in honor of the new Queen Mother. The dance performed is Bamaya, the spiritual rain dance done by men at the request of the gods. It is from the Dagomba people of Northern Ghana. The dance was in search of water during a long drought. The men, disguised as women, walked from the village square to the shrine as they got halfway there it started to rain. Her new name will become Nana Yaa Oforiwaa Amafo I. Many of the dances and drum rhythms we learned in Chiku Awali highlighted African history and culture. © Collette V. Fournier
Image 5: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): Ms. Dreena’s Enstoolment. Protection, white powder clay, is poured over the new Queen Mother as she is given a new name and new persona. The solemnity of the enstoolment ceremony required the new nkɔsoɔhemmaa (Asante word for Queen Mother of Progress) to be dressed in black. After the ritual of the stool and being given her new name: Nana Yaa Oforiwaa Amafo I, she is shielded from the sun by Rev. Gabriel Dzokoto and escorted to her chambers by Dr. Kofi Owuusu-Daaku and American visitor Benita Roxbury to change into white attire. © Collette V. Fournier
Image 6: Bepoase, Ghana (2017): A Durbar is a cultural celebration with music, dance, and food especially when a new King or Queen is enstooled. Drumming accompanies dancing in honor of the new Queen Mother. The dance performed is Bamaya, the spiritual rain dance done by men at the request of the gods. It is from the Dagomba people of Northern Ghana. The dance was in search of water during a long drought. The men, disguised as women, walked from the village square to the shrine as they got halfway there it started to rain. © Collette V. Fournier
Image Credits: Courtesy of © Collette V. Fournier
Artist Bio
Collette V. Fournier has an M.F.A in Visual Arts from Vermont College and a B.S. from RIT in Communications and Photographic Illustration. Born in Harlem, Fournier grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. She is the retired staff photographer from Rockland Community College and adjuncts in the Photography Department. Fournier has worked as a staff photographer for The Rockland Journal-News, The Bergen Record, and freelanced for The New York Post. Earlier in her career, she worked in television as a production assistant and engineer trainee. Fournier was selected by the University of Rochester to photograph three educational tours to Senegal, West Africa and has traveled to
Image Credit: © Ronald Herard / Kamoinge
Ghana, Togo and Benin with Chiku Awali African Dance and Culture. Fournier curated several exhibitions including a multi-sited exhibition, “There is a World Through Our Eyes: Perceptions and Visions of the African American Photographer,” exhibited at Rockland Community College, ACOR, Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, Rockland Center for the Arts and Blue Hill in 1993. Fournier has had fourteen one-woman exhibitions and has participated in over forty group exhibitions.
Fournier is an active member of Kamoinge Inc., an African-American photography collective. Through Atria Books, Kamoinge published Sweet Breath of Life, a poetic narrative of the African-American family by Frank Stewart with writer Ntozake Shange. As a Soros fellow (OSI), she documented Post Hurricane Katrina.
Fournier is a member of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) and was honored by AAUW for her photography. She received the Artist of Year Award by the County Executive Arts Awards and Arts Council. Fournier has been Artist-in-Residence at the CEJJES Institute in Pomona, NY. and is on board to develop The Gordon Black Cultural Arts Center. Her photography work is collected in Photography Collections Preservation Project (PCCP), Finkelstein Memorial Library, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Smithsonian Institute, WDC, Women International Archive, CA. and in private collections.