Awulai Ashia & Nkyinkyim Exhibition at Gagosian

For Amoako Boafo’s exhibition I Do Not Come to You By Chance at Gagosian Mayfair, DeRoche Projects created a spatial framework that brings architecture into direct conversation with painting, memory, and Ghanaian cultural references. The exhibition is organized around two main interventions: the Courtyard Pavilion and the social sculpture Nkyinkyim.

In the first gallery, the courtyard of Boafo’s childhood home in Accra is reinterpreted as a charred timber structure. Rather than reconstructing a domestic space literally, the pavilion translates it into a quiet architectural memory: a place of gathering, exchange, and belonging. Paintings are set into niches within the frame, slowing the movement through the gallery and softening the neutrality of the white cube.

In the second gallery, Nkyinkyim becomes both artwork and architecture. The double-sided paintings are held within a sculptural timber structure inspired by the Adinkra symbol of the same name, associated with life’s twists, resilience, and adaptation. Seating, woven rattan panels, and custom fabric elements complete the installation, turning the exhibition into a space for looking, meeting, and reflection.