Oku Ampofo was born in Mampong, Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1908. In 1932 he became the first Ghanaian to win the Gold Coast Government Medical Scholarship. Ampofo subsequently moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1933 and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, while taking night classes in sculpture at Edinburgh School of Art. Returning to Ghana in 1940 he founded the Akuapem Six, a group of artists advocating for an appreciation of indigenous and Akuapem art, as well as ‘healthy conditions for free expression of thought through the arts'. Ampofo worked with painted wood as well as with cement and terrazzo.

Listen to his story here or read the full biography on the BURU: https://www.buru.org.uk/?letter=a