Ewuresi Archer Ghanaian - American, b. 1999

Ewuresi Archer is a Ghanaian-American multi-disciplinary artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. She was born in Burlington, Vermont, to Ghanaian parents and raised in Ghana, where her artistic journey began at Akosombo International School. As a visual art student, she was introduced to traditional ceramics, painting, and graphic design, which formed the foundation of her creative practice. After graduating in 2017, she took a gap year dedicated to honing her skills, completing a welding internship at Accents and Arts that further broadened her material knowledge and shaped the layered approach she now brings to her art practice. Archer later moved to the United States to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she earned her BFA in Painting with an emphasis in Printmaking and a concentration in Creative Writing in 2022.

Her work places Ghanaian culture at the center, celebrating its vibrancy while acknowledging the complexities of its coexistence with Western influence. This duality has always been a part of Archer’s lived experience, and she explores it through a glowing, saturated color palette and scrappy, energetic marks that depict everyday scenes; pounding fufu, getting a haircut, eating foods tied to memory and tradition. Through palette knife scraping, layering, and intentional distortion, she pushes her imagery toward the edge of abstraction, leaving just enough for viewers to recognize and connect with. The effect mirrors her own feelings of nostalgia and longing for a culture that, though deeply hers, has often felt just beyond reach due to her diasporic upbringing. Archer’s practice is both an invitation and a reclamation: an invitation for those unfamiliar with Ghanaian traditions to celebrate them, and a reclamation for herself and others who have been made to feel their culture was not enough. Her art is a love letter to heritage, beauty, and belonging.

Ewuresi has exhibited nationally, with solo shows including Alluring Souls at The Beltline Project in Detroit and You Are Invited: Your Hands and Mouth Are Not at Akron Soul Train. Her work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as Waking Dream at River House Arts, MAPC: We Want More at Reinberger Gallery, and I Am My Best Work at The Painting Center in New York. She co-curated a two-person, site-specific installation for Rooms to Let in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood, demonstrating her commitment to collaborative and experimental approaches to exhibition-making.

Beyond her studio practice, Archer is an active community builder and educator. She has led workshops in screen printing and collage at institutions including the Cleveland Museum of Art, taught art to audiences ranging from children to adults, and participated in artist lectures at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She has also designed posters and album covers for organizations such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, she serves as co-coordinator of the Black Arts Showcase Cleveland, a platform dedicated to celebrating and supporting Black artists in her community.Her work has been recognized with the First Place Paul and Norma Tikkanen Painting Prize and has been featured in publications such as Canvas Rebel and New Art Examiner.