Ghana’s Alice Banaaza spotlights fugu weaving at 2026 CHAN Festival in UK

Ghanaian weaver Alice Banaaza showcased traditional fugu weaving at the 2026 Chocolate Has a Name Festival in Halifax, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. 

The event, themed The Untutored Mind: A Thing of Beauty, opened on 27th August 2026, with the exhibition and live weaving experience continuing through 31st August 2026.

Live weaving demonstrations took place at specific times throughout the exhibition, while further engagements were held from 2nd to 6th September 2026.

At the heart of the exhibition was an opportunity to encounter textile knowledge not simply as something preserved behind glass, but as a living practice.

The Alice Banaaza effect

Alice Banaaza, an Indigenous Ghanaian weaver, presented live demonstrations of traditional Fugu weaving, sharing the processes, techniques and knowledge through which this distinctive northern Ghanaian textile tradition continues across generations.

She started her weaving exercise on 9th September 2026 at the Kokoo Museum in Halifax. 

Audiences were able to witness cloth emerging on the loom: the relationship between hand, thread, rhythm, pattern, memory and accumulated knowledge.

Alice’s presence highlighted the issue of what happens when the living knowledge of the maker enters into conversation with the object in the collection.

Her demonstrations were accompanied by artist conversations, workshops, public talks, educational sessions and encounters with historic African textiles held within host institutions.

Fugu as Ghana’s cultural treasure

Fugu is a traditional handwoven textile associated particularly with northern Ghana, especially communities in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.

It is made by weaving narrow strips of cotton fabric on a traditional loom and then joining the strips together to form a larger cloth. Fugu is commonly worn as smocks, shirts, dresses and other garments.

The textile has gained renewed national attention in Ghana in 2026 following President John Dramani Mahama’s state visit to Zambia in February, when his Fugu became the subject of social media banter between some Zambian and Ghanaian users. The discussion ultimately generated a strong Ghanaian defence of the garment.

During the visit, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema acknowledged the beauty of the Fugu and said he would order some from Ghana. 

Subsequently, Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts declared Wednesdays as National Fugu Day, encouraging Ghanaians and friends of the country at home and abroad to wear Fugu in its various forms and designs. The initiative is aimed at preserving and promoting Ghanaian cultural heritage while supporting local weavers, designers, artisans and traders.

In May 2026, the Ministry also outdoored Ghanaian musician and cultural icon Noella Wiyaala Nwadei as Fugu Ambassador, citing her consistent promotion of Ghanaian culture, including the smock, through music and fashion. 

About CHAN Festival

The Chocolate Has a Name Festival (CHAN) is a cultural and heritage programme centred on Ghana’s cocoa story, its people, history, value chain and the relationship between Ghana and Britain.

The festival has been staged in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and its programming brings together art, fashion, food, storytelling, performance, community activities and discussions around cocoa, heritage and repair.

Ghana is central to the festival’s identity. One of its projects, Kokoo 360, has used creative practice to tell stories about Ghana’s cocoa industry.

The 2024 Kokoo 360: The Circularity Exhibition, created through a collaboration between UK-based Ghanaian designer AduAmani and Adelle A’asante’s Ese ne Tekyerema CIC, transformed discarded cocoa jute sacks into fashion pieces, including clothing, bags, shoes and jewellery. The project was supported by a £5,000 British Council Biennales and Festivals Grant.

The 2026 edition continues that creative and cultural conversation through The Untutored Mind: A Thing of Beauty, placing African textile heritage, authorship and living weaving knowledge at the centre of the exhibition.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.