Dot.ateliers, the artist residency founded by Amoako Boafo in 2022, grew from a personal need for the creative space and community he had wished for earlier in his career. Now, the Ghanaian artist tells The Art Newspaper, his latest project “comes from that same space of reflection, but this time through my love for tennis”.
Situated on a tight plot in Osu, the neighbourhood in Ghana’s capital, Accra, where Boafo was born and raised, Backyard Community Club houses a tennis training facility described as the country’s first regulation clay court. It is a project that is certainly dear to Boafo's heart. Before becoming a global art sensation he was a ball boy and then a tennis player, and his work features fellow players.
Self-expression
“With Backyard, I hope to create that kind of environment for young people, a space where sport isn’t just about competition but about confidence, connection and self-expression,” the artist explains. “It’s a way to remind them that the court, like the studio, can be a place of creativity and growth.”
Designed by the Accra-based architecture firm DeRoche Projects, Backyard offers a solution to the often scarce public recreational spaces for young people by offering free lessons to children in the community. The firm’s founder and leader, Glenn DeRoche, describes the space as deliberately open-ended.
Rammed-earth first
The tennis court is surrounded by a four-metre-high wall of precast rammed-earth panels—the first in the country, according to DeRoche’ Projects—and features a shaded, built-in bench and changing rooms. Trees and plants such as coconut, peppermint, soursop, mango, lemongrass and guava grow throughout and around the space, providing nutrition for the young people who play there.
“Backyard is about more than tennis. It’s about creating a platform for youth, for mentorship and for community,” says DeRoche, the project’s creative director and Boafo’s frequent collaborator. “If even a few players are able to take what they’ve learned here and step into global competitions or leadership roles in their own communities, then we’ve done something meaningful.”
Boafo and DeRoche collaborated on the artist’s first solo exhibition in Asia at Wooyang Art Museum in South Korea, and on his first European and UK solo shows at Belvedere Museum in Vienna and Gagosian in London. DeRoche also co-designed dot.ateliers’ Ogbojo Residency in Accra, which was the editor’s pick in The Architect Newspaper’s 2024 Best in Design Awards.
