Master Thesis:
After Gold. Tracing the Thread of Extraction, Agency and Resistance in Ghana.

Author: Jessie Awulaa Dede Addy
Supervisor: Dr. Marija Maric

After Gold. Textile sketches of unseen realities of gold mining. Jessie Addy, 2025

Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, has been shaped by gold extraction for over a thousand years. This thesis traces gold’s journey through six terrains; soil, architecture, water, the body, standards, and the global market revealing their entanglement with colonial legacies and extractive economies. Drawing on Ghanaian memory practices and decolonial theory, it reimagines gold as cultural heritage rather than commodity. Engaging works by Olufemi O Taiwo, Thandi Loewenson, and Kathryn Yusoff, it critiques Western valuation systems and envisions a post-mining future. The project expands architectural discourse by framing soil, body, and memory as spatial and political sites expanding architecture beyond built form toward acts of care, resistance, and repair.

After Gold. Illustration of speculative stories of post extraction futures in Ghana. Jessie Addy, 2025

After Gold. Illustration of water use in gold mining communities . Jessie Addy, 2025

After Gold. Section of the mines. Jessie Addy, 2025

After Gold. The cultural archive, a textile book rooted in Ghanaian memory. Jessie Addy, 2025