Pioneer artist J.A.Y Mensah to be buried on December 15

Joseph Amos Yawson Mensah, a renowned pioneer artist who designed many landmark artistic works in the Sekondi-Takoradi area will be buried on December 15, 2018, in Shama.

Popularly known as JAY Mensah, he designed and mounted the famous fetish priest (Komfo) in Sekondi roundabout, an edifice which later became known as " Komfoase", to signify the Kundum festival, as well as a big fish at Sekondi's European town roundabout, a symbol of the role fishing, plays in the local economy.

Mensah, 77, was a product of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and taught art at Sekondi College (Sekco), and later at the Archbishop Porter Girls Secondary School in Takoradi, where he retired.

Joseph Quantsin, a member of the Ekisi family of Shama, told journalists that JAY Mensah after the burial in Shama, his hometown, on December 15, 2018, it will be followed by other funeral rites on December 16, 2018.

Stephen Nyamekye-Baker, an artist, eulogized JAY Mensah as an "epitome of artistic brilliance", who contributed to the beautification of Sekondi-Takoradi.

He, therefore, called on the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Arts to honour such a great pioneer artist of the Western region.

Nyamekye-Baker said art expresses the relevance of our culture and amplifies individual creativity. For these reasons, he said, " it will be a great honour to immortalize the name- JAY Mensah for posterity to appreciate his great contributions to the development of art in Ghana".

Nyamekye-Baker said, "a country that does not honour its people is not worth serving because lack of recognition discourages the youth to work towards greatness".

"I call on the government, and its representatives to honour this great pioneer artist", he pleaded.