Austin Nortey
Austin Nortey (born 18 July 1997) is a multidisciplinary Ghanaian artist from Kumasi, with ancestral roots in Osu, Greater Accra. His practice is deeply rooted in sustainability, drawing on second-hand and traditional textiles to explore the stories materials can tell. Through his work, Nortey reflects on themes of identity, labour, memory, and the shifting relationship between people and the objects that shape their lives.
Working across painting, sculpture, textile art, and dyeing, Nortey transforms discarded and overlooked materials into new visual languages. He combines careful craftsmanship with experimental, chance-driven processes, allowing each piece to evolve organically while challenging ideas of form and texture.
A graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where he earned a First-Class degree in Fashion Design, Nortey’s work has been exhibited widely across Africa and beyond. His collaborative spirit has led him to work with theatre companies in Ghana and abroad, including a 2022 performance with a Burkina Faso-based troupe and a costume design partnership with a German artist that same year. His work was also featured at the SIPAB Conference and Exhibition at Afrotopia in Hamburg in 2022.
In 2023, Nortey participated in the Paris Contemporary Art and Literary Exhibition, performed in Silver Lining with Slovakian artist Barbara Gocnikova at plAR 2023, and exhibited at the Glam Fashion Africa Exhibition in Nigeria. That same year, he was featured in QUT | Tout commence par une interruption in Paris. His innovative approach to textile-based design earned him recognition as First Runner-Up for the prestigious Vlisco Fashion Fund, in collaboration with Vlisco Ghana.
His creative journey continued in 2024 with a residency at the Perforcraze International Artist Residency (PIAR) in Kumasi. He went on to take part in the Bone Performance Art Festival in Bern, Switzerland, and the Chatting New Routes of Rebellion residency in Tamale, Ghana. His works were showcased in the group exhibition In the Chest of the City at PIAR and internationally at Lou Gallery in Helsinki, Finland, as part of We Tell Each Other Stories in Order to Live.
In 2025, Nortey joined the ZK/U Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik in Berlin for an artist residency and contributed to the group exhibition Activist Choreographies of Care at NGbK. He also collaborated as a guest designer for the Afrolution Festival, organised by Each One Teach One (EOTO) in Berlin.
Beyond his artistic practice, Austin is an active advocate for sustainability in fashion. He shares his passion for environmental consciousness through lectures and talks at international platforms, including Fabrics in Hamburg and the Berlin School of Economics and Law.
