Nkyinkyim Installation by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama, USA
Nkyinkyim Installation
Kwame Akoto-Bamfo · “Nkyinkyim Installation” (also spelled Nkyinkim), a group of chained life-size figures made in Ghana, in place by March 2018 · beside the path to the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama
Photo: as published on Street Art Utopia (2022 and 2026 posts); photographer not named
A group of chained figures, seven by most accounts, stands beside the path that leads up to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama: men, women, a toddler and a mother holding a screaming baby. Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo made the figures at his studio in Ghana, and the Equal Justice Initiative installed them at the memorial, which opened on 26 April 2018. The work is a monument to the transatlantic slave trade: “My piece is on slavery,” the artist told The Root. “It’s the path that leads to lynching.” The newest dated photo we found was taken on 12 November 2025.
5 things to know
- Made in Ghana, set up in AlabamaThe Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which runs the memorial, released a video showing “the creation of this piece at the artist’s studio in Ghana and its installation on the grounds of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.” Akoto-Bamfo told The Root that he could not get a US visa, so EJI “sent videos and a 3D panoramic view of the site” and he worked from those. He missed the memorial’s opening in April 2018. EJI, 2019 · The Root, 2018
- Ordinary people as models“I picked ordinary people from the roadside in Ghana,” the artist told The Root. Enslaved Africans are usually shown as “masculine and ideal figures”, he said, and he wanted body types “that cut across African and black people.” The Root dates the start of the modelling to November 2017. The Root, 2018
- A mother reaching outThe figure in the photo above is the centre of the group. Akoto-Bamfo: “We have the mother crying and reaching out for her man, who turns away in shame.” Art historian Renée Ater calls it “a chained young mother holding a screaming baby”, the most sorrowful figure in the group. The Root, 2018 · Smarthistory
- Chains and an empty shackleAccording to The Root, the shackles “were replicated from real chains found at the Cape Coast Slave Castle” in Ghana, and an empty shackle on the ground stands for an eighth figure. Artillery’s critic in 2020: “On the ground lies a set of empty shackles”. The Root, 2018 · Artillery, 2020
- Part of a much larger projectIn Ghana, Akoto-Bamfo’s Nkyinkyim Installation is a field of sculpted heads. “What you see at the EJI is an extension of that,” he told The Root. His own biography says “An extension of Nkyinkyim forms part of the permanent Slave Monument installation” at the memorial. The name comes from an Adinkra symbol and proverb meaning “twisting” or “turning”, according to his Ancestor Project. The Root · Artist’s biography · Ancestor Project
Check-in guide
- 📍
- On the paved path that climbs to the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, in front of the first information panel on the way up (Smarthistory, Burnaway, Artillery).
- ⛓️
- The figures stand at ground level on a low concrete slab. Look for the mother with the baby, the standing man with chained hands and the empty shackle on the ground (Commons, October 2018, Flickr, November 2025).
- 🧭
- EJI says the Peace and Justice Memorial Center at 414 Caroline Street is across from the memorial’s entrance (EJI). The Maps button uses the Wikipedia coordinates for the memorial site, 32.37194, −86.31278.
Sightings
- 201827 Mar
Commons photo
- 201827 Apr
Architectural Record
- 20187 May
The Root interview
- 201822 May
Burnaway visit
- 20186 Jul
Getty photo
- 201826 Oct
Commons photo
- 201929 Jan
EJI video
- 202015 Jul
Artillery visit
- 202116 Dec
Flickr photo
- 20253 May
Flickr photo
- 202512 Nov
Flickr photo
Every stamp links to the dated source. Green stamps are photos taken at the sculpture with a recorded date: a photo on Wikimedia Commons whose camera metadata names Human Pictures, uploaded by Soniakapadia (camera date 27 March 2018, a month before the memorial opened; the camera date is not the day the work was made), Raymond Boyd for Getty Images (6 July 2018), Bubba73 on Commons (26 October 2018), profzucker on Flickr (16 December 2021), Alan P. Goldstein on Flickr (3 May 2025) and global231 on Flickr (12 November 2025). The 2018 to 2025 photos show the same group in the same place, with the mother and baby, the standing man and the empty shackle. Amber stamps are dated articles by writers who saw the work (Architectural Record, Burnaway, Artillery), The Root’s interview with the artist and EJI’s video release.
On the record
Lynching Memorial: Ghanaian Artist Hopes Sculpture Captures Shared Pain Between African Americans and the Motherland
“On the grounds of the memorial stand seven lifesize figures. They. Are. Raw. Men, women, a toddler and a baby are chained with shackles that were replicated from real chains found at the Cape Coast Slave Castle.”
Erica Ayisi’s interview with the artist, less than two weeks after the opening he could not attend: the models, the visa refusal and why the figures had to stand on their own so they could be installed in the US without him.
Masud Olufani Responds to Montgomery’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice
“Kwame Akoto-Bamfo’s powerful sculpture Nkyinkyim, depicting six shackled Africans, startles me as I begin the slow ascent up the paved walking path to the memorial’s entrance.”
An Atlanta artist’s response to his visit. He counts six figures and calls them bronze; The Root and Smarthistory count seven, and Smarthistory says cast concrete.
National Memorial for Peace and Justice Offers Powerful, Haunting Experience
“Gravel pathways zigzag across grassy slopes in the six-acre park, sending visitors on a slow walk past rough-hewn concrete walls and a haunting sculpture of an anguished family in chains.”
Glenny Brock’s review, published the day after the opening, with her photo captioned “Detail of Nkyinkim Installation”.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
“The group is chained together in a coffle; their necks encircled with thick rings.”
Sarah Sargent’s walk through the memorial for the Los Angeles art magazine.
The facts
- Artist
- Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Ghanaian artist, born 1983 (EJI, The Root, Smarthistory, Burnaway, artist’s biography) Checked
- Title
- “Nkyinkyim Installation” (EJI, Smarthistory) Checked. Also written “Nkyinkim” (artist’s biography, Architectural Record, Getty Images). The Adinkra word means “twisting” or “turning” (Ancestor Project, Monument Lab) Checked. Wikipedia translates it as “twisted”, from the proverb “life is a twisted journey” (Wikipedia) Reported
- Made
- Made at the artist’s studio in Ghana and installed at the memorial (EJI, The Root) Checked. Dated 2018 (Smarthistory, Flickr, Alan P. Goldstein, artist’s biography) Checked; in place by 27 March 2018, the camera date of the earliest photo we found (Commons) Checked. EJI first contacted the artist in April 2017, and work with the models began in November 2017, according to The Root (The Root) Reported
- For
- The Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which opened on 26 April 2018 (Wikipedia, Artillery, EJI) Checked. The Root says EJI invited the artist after seeing his sculpted heads, and that Bryan Stevenson “gave me the liberty to be an artist”, in Akoto-Bamfo’s words (The Root) Reported
- Figures
- Seven chained, life-size figures, including a mother with a baby and a toddler (The Root, Smarthistory, Wikipedia); Burnaway counts six (Burnaway) Conflicting. We go with seven: three sources say so, and The Root counts the baby among the figures. An empty shackle on the ground stands for an eighth (The Root, Artillery) Checked
- Material
- Cast concrete, according to art historian Renée Ater (Smarthistory); Masud Olufani calls them “life-sized bronze figures” (Burnaway) Conflicting. We lean to concrete: Ater writes about how the monument was made, the artist’s related Nkyinkyim heads are concrete (The Root, artist’s biography), and he described modelling the work in clay: “The clay work will dry and crack up” (The Root). The chains are copies of chains found at Cape Coast Castle, according to The Root (The Root) Reported
- Idea
- A monument to the transatlantic slave trade; “My piece is on slavery … It’s the path that leads to lynching,” Akoto-Bamfo told The Root (The Root, Smarthistory, EJI) Checked. Smarthistory says it is based on the slavery memorial in Stone Town, Zanzibar (Smarthistory) Reported
- Place
- Beside the path up to the entrance of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, Alabama (EJI, Burnaway, Artillery, Smarthistory) Checked
- Our photo
- The photo above is the one published in the Street Art Utopia posts; they do not name the photographer. It shows the mother with the screaming baby, the same figure as in the dated photos from 2018 to 2025 (Commons 2018, Flickr 2025) Checked. The second Street Art Utopia photo shows a crouching chained woman from the same group.
- Status
- Seen November 2025: Flickr photo taken 12 November 2025 (Flickr, global231) Checked
Related
- On Street Art Utopia: When Metal Comes Alive (12 Photos) (12 October 2026), where the mother and child appear as work no. 1 and a second figure from the group as work no. 8, and the earlier post Sculpture dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade (30 April 2022).
- Renée Ater on the memorial’s design and its monuments, including this one. Smarthistory
- The Nkyinkyim Installation in Ghana, the field of sculpted heads that the Montgomery figures grew out of. Ancestor Project
- EJI’s Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, opened in 2024, which also includes work by Akoto-Bamfo. Wikipedia
All sources (20)
This work
- EJI: “EJI Releases Video on Sculpture About Enslavement”, 29 January 2019. Made at the artist’s studio in Ghana, installed at the memorial; stands at the entrance.
- The Root: “Lynching Memorial: Ghanaian Artist Hopes Sculpture Captures Shared Pain Between African Americans and the Motherland”, Erica Ayisi, 7 May 2018. Seven figures, Cape Coast chains, empty shackle, models, visa, November 2017.
- Burnaway: “Masud Olufani Responds to Montgomery’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice”, Masud Olufani, 22 May 2018. Six shackled figures, “life-sized bronze”, on the path to the entrance.
- Architectural Record: “National Memorial for Peace and Justice Offers Powerful, Haunting Experience”, Glenny Brock, 27 April 2018. “Nkyinkim Installation”, a family in chains.
- Artillery: “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice”, Sarah Sargent, 15 July 2020. On the path to the memorial; coffle, neck rings, empty shackles.
- Smarthistory: “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Equal Justice Initiative)”, Renée Ater, 7 January 2022. Cast concrete, seven figures, 2018, Zanzibar, in front of the first plaque.
- Kwame Akoto-Bamfo: “Biography”, the artist’s site. Born 1983; Nkyinkim at the memorial; “An extension of Nkyinkyim”.
- Kwame Akoto-Bamfo: “National Monument for Peace and Justice”, project page on the artist’s site.
- Wikipedia: “National Memorial for Peace and Justice”, opened 26 April 2018; seven shackled figures; “twisted”.
- Wikipedia: “Kwame Akoto-Bamfo”, Nkyinkim at the memorial that opened in 2018.
- Monument Lab: “Kwame Akoto-Bamfo and Building Restorative Justice Across the African Diaspora”, Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann, 16 August 2021. Nkyinkyim (“twisting”), exhibited at the memorial.
Dated photos
- Commons: “Nkyinkim Installation by Kwame Akoto Bamfo at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice”, taken 27 March 2018; camera metadata names Human Pictures; uploaded by Soniakapadia as own work under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Getty Images: “Kwame Akoto-Bamfo’s ‘Nkyinkim’ sculpture”, Raymond Boyd, 6 July 2018.
- Commons: “Memorial for Peace and Justice, Montgomery, AL, US (02)”, Bubba73, taken 26 October 2018 (also no. 03).
- Flickr: “Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, Nkyinkyim Installation, 2018”, profzucker, taken 16 December 2021.
- Flickr: “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice 250503”, Alan P. Goldstein, taken 3 May 2025.
- Flickr: “Nkyinkim by Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo”, global231, taken 12 November 2025.
Context
- Ancestor Project: “Nkyinkyim Installation”, the Ghana project; Adinkra symbol and proverb meaning “twisting” or “turning”.
- EJI Legacy Sites: “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice”, Peace and Justice Memorial Center at 414 Caroline Street, across from the entrance.
- Wikipedia: “Freedom Monument Sculpture Park”, opened 2024; includes sculptures by Akoto-Bamfo.
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