Mrammou: Akan Gold Weights

Mrammou is a collection of hand-drawn illustrations I began in 2021. These small drawings are inspired by Akan gold weights. Called ‘mrammou’ in the Akan language, these objects were cast in brass and used as a measuring system for gold dust, the currency used by the Akan people of West African for five hundred years (14th to 19th centuries).

Inspired by this tradition, I am exploring my African heritage through these objects. Inspired by the currency system, the project was released as digital collectible with mechanics designed to encourage collecting, trading, and combining artwork through community interaction and direct collaboration with the artist.

My first designs for the Mrammou collection took shape with my tattoo practice. I wanted to experiment with color, so I tattooed one of the designs on myself, adding color in an impromptu fashion. This tattoo served as a reference point to the Mrammou collection.

Key Mechanics

  • “Weight” Attribute: Inspired by the system to weigh gold dust, metadata for each Mrammou token includes a weight value in grams.

  • “Gold Dust Box”: A one-time reward for collectors holding a total Weight value of 35.2g. This special piece of artwork allowed the collector to claim “Gold Dust.”

  • Gold Dust: Initially a reward for the first two collectors of the Gold Dust Box, this token has a fixed supply and is used in the “Mrammou Forge” to create new artwork.

  • Mrammou Forge: This is a formal request to “merge” two Mrammou to create a combined Mrammou, a new piece of art. The new artwork will be based on the subject matter of the artwork requested for the merge.

  • Combination Attribute: The attributes “Strife”(conflict) and “Symbiosis” (harmony) are additional prompts used to describe the relationship of the combined Mrammous for the new artwork requested in the Mrammou Forge. Attributes “Principal” and “Contributory” describe the actions of the Mrammous in the new artwork.

History & Reference

I came across gold weights first on Instagram, after reviewing the extensive collection of Karun Thakar. Having amassed a collection of objects from Asia, India, and Africa over a period of 40 years, Karun’s Instagram was a sneak peek into a museum of beautiful objects made public with the help of social media.

Knowledge and references are drawn mainly from Tom Phillips book, “African Goldweights: Miniature Sculptures from Ghana 1400-1900.” In the course of thirty years, the artist and scholar Tom Phillips acquired an expansive collection of gold weights - and his collection is described with intimate detail in his book. Before Tom’s publication was an extensive and rare book by Timothy Garrard, “Akan Weights and the Gold Trade,” which Tom heavily references in his book.

For those looking for an introduction to gold weights, I suggest the scholarly article ‘Re-Examining the Akan Gold Weight and its Possible Reuse,’ from the Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: C Sociology & Culture (vol 20 no 6). The link to this simple 7-page PDF is below, and available for anyone to review.

I have a personal collection of genuine Akan gold weights from reputable galleries and sellers for direct, tangible reference for the Mrammou collection.

  • Phillips, T 2010, African Goldweights: Miniature Sculptures from Ghana 1400-1900, Thames & Hudson, London / New York

  • Garrard, T 1980, Akan Weights and the Gold Trade, Longman, London / New York

  • Owusu Addo, A R & Akomeah, R 2020, ‘Re-Examining the Akan Gold Weight and its Possible Reuse’, Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: C Sociology & Culture, vol 20, no 6. https://socialscienceresearch.org/index.php/GJHSS/article/download/3324/3213/