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Virginia Tech

Sankofa: A virtual Exploration of the Besease Shrine

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

As a teenager growing up in Ghana, whenever I traveled to my hometown, I saw old, abandoned traditional buildings made of earth and timber frames. I have always wanted to know why old traditional buildings look so unique and different from our present-day buildings. They usually appear to be weak as rain erodes some portions of them. While most have been abandoned, some have been preserved to serve their purpose. This ignited my curiosity as an artist to use visual forms to learn more about these buildings. In this project, I use virtual reality to explore the purpose and importance of these buildings in their prime. The Besease Shrine, located in Ejisu Besease, which has been serving as a spiritual ground since the 19th century, is being used as a case study and reimagined in a virtual space to learn about the architectural forms and motifs of these buildings. Virtual reality is an artistic medium that can visualize historic sites and places remotely to give a firsthand perspective and appreciation. The paper further discusses how virtual reality can be used to preserve and document these historical places.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Fine Arts
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Creative Technologies
Department dc:contributor.department
Art and Art History
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2025

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Baah, Emmanuel
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Tucker, Thomas James
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Elgewely, Eiman Mohamed Ahmed
  • Drum, Meredith

Subjects

dc:subject × 21

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:43905
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/135008

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Baah, Emmanuel. Sankofa: A virtual Exploration of the Besease Shrine. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2025. https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135008