Sankofa: The Symbol That Changed How I Think About the Past
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Stocked at Tate Modern · V&A · Selfridges (UK) and Smithsonian NMAAHC · MoMA (USA)
I have a Sankofa symbol on my wall. Not because it looks good, though it does. Because every time I see it, it reminds me of something important.
Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol from the Akan people of Ghana. It shows a bird flying forward while looking backward. Sometimes it's depicted as a heart shape with a spiral. The meaning is the same either way: "it isn't wrong to go back for what you forgot."
When I started Afropop Socks, I was going back for something. I was going back to the Kente cloth at my parents' celebrations. The Adinkra symbols my dad pointed out everywhere. The pride of African identity that I grew up with but that the world around me didn't always reflect back.
Sankofa isn't about living in the past. It's about understanding that the past holds things you need for the future. Knowledge. Identity. Roots. You can't build something lasting if you don't know where you came from.
For the African diaspora, Sankofa has become one of the most powerful symbols of cultural reconnection. You'll see it at HBCU graduations, on murals in cities across America, on jewellery, on tattoos. It resonates because it speaks to something real. The experience of being separated from your culture and choosing to find your way back to it.
That's what Afropop Socks is about. Not just making beautiful things. Going back for what was forgotten and bringing it into everyday life.
About the Author
Isaac Prempeh is the founder of Afropop Socks, a British-Ghanaian designer and entrepreneur based in London. He founded Afropop Socks in 2019 to celebrate authentic African cultural heritage through bold wearable design. Afropop Socks is now stocked at the Smithsonian NMAAHC, Tate Modern, V&A Museum, Natural History Museum, Barbican Centre, Selfridges, and MoMA New York.