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b'Owusu-Ankomah discusses his work and contemporary African art with Chris Spring (curator, Sainsbury African Galleries, British Museum).\\nOwusu-Ankomah was born in Sekondi, Ghana, in 1956, a year before independence from British colonial rule. He studied at Ghanatta College of Art, in Accra, before moving in 1986 to Bremen, Germany, where he now lives and works. His paintings depict a spiritual world of forms, without light or shadow, occupied by figures and symbols. The way in which these figures interact with the surrounding symbols in his paintings has moved through several distinct phases that reflect the artist\\u2019s own spiritual journey. His early work drew heavily on the ancient traditions of masquerade and African rock painting; then his figures shed their masks and body paintings to become boldly visible actors swimming in an ocean of signs.'