Hi there! I’m Fransesca Quartey
If you found your way here, you might be looking for some of the skills in my repertoire.
In that case, I suggest you settle down with a cup of coffee, so that you can take a leisurely look at everything I have to offer.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Fransesca Quartey
Recipient of The Royal Order of the Seraphim of the 8th degree by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf, 2021
Recipient of the Västerbotten regional honorary award, 2022
Sankofa
The Sakonfa bird, an Adinkra symbol from the Akan people of Ghana in West Africa.
A a mythical creature whose feet is firmly planted forward, but whose head turns back to pick up an egg from its feathers, has an accompanying proverb, “So wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki”. Freely translated - it is not wrong to pick up what is left behind. Or – you can always correct a mistake. In other words, the past can serve as a guide for a strong future and the egg represents the acquired wisdom.
Ghana has several different peoples within its national borders. Apart from the Akan people in the forest areas, there are the Hausa people in the north, the Ewe in the east and the Ga-Adangbe on the coast, just to name a few.
My father, Francis Daniel Nii Kwatei Quartey belonged to the Ga-folket.
The earliest known kingdom located where modern Ghana is today is the Bono State formed in the 11th century. Over the centuries, new empires were formed, such as the Dagbon kingdom in the north and the Akan empire in the south. Beginning in the 15th century, Ghana was colonized by, among others, the Portuguese, and Danes, but also by Sweden.
When Queen Christina's coffers were empty after her coronation in 1650, her adviser Axel Oxenstierna told her that the fastest way to fill the treasury was to enter the transatlantic slave trade, which she did.
For two hundred years, Sweden bought and sold enslaved people. Much later when the British took over, they renamed Ghana to be called Gold Coast, because of the country’s gold deposits. From 1821 and 136 years onwards, Ghana remained a British colony.
On March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first independent sub-Saharan country on the African continent under President Kwame Nkrumah.
Early on, the Sankofa bird became an important symbol for me personally. It is a reminder that my life is in my own hands and that I can influence my future by remembering my past.
Today, I am a dual citizen and proud of both my Swedish and Ghanaian heritage and travel to Ghana as often as time permits.
In 2019, my father passed away at the age of 92.
The Lion
The lion is the coat of arms of the Västergötland region. That we have coat of arms in Sweden is because of king Gustav Vasa I. When he was to be buried in 1560, his son Erik XIV had coats of arms designed for all 24 provinces in Sweden and Finland. He was very much inspired by the magnificent ceremonies that existed among the Western European royal of the time. The new provincial coats of arms were then painted on black silk banners and carried behind the king’s casket in the funeral procession, making its way from Stockholm to Uppsala.
My mother’s family is from Västergötland, more specifically a small town called Sollebrunn, in the municipality of Alingsås. My ancestors came wandering into the area a long time ago and decided to settle there and farm the land. As a matter of fact, my entire family on my mother's side are all farmers in direct descent. You can find traces of them in the church records dating all the way back to the 18th century. I know this because my great- grandfather left behind a treasure of recorded stories about our family's life and livelihood.
This is how my great-grandfather, homesteader, church warden, poet and writer Otto Karlsson begins his self-authored book about our family.
- In this document which has been recorded here, I have sought to clarify the family relationships in the correct descending order, covering the time from 1750 to 1960.
Between the lines of names and dates, one gets an idea of each person’s existence as a landowner and farmer through seven generations. We get an insight into their hard work and simple living conditions, their cheerful expectations in times of prosperity, their disappointments and setbacks, their struggle to put food on the table in often disgusting conditions with primitive tools and in the absence of any mechanical aids, things that we, children of later times, can hardly imagine. But despite this, the old farmers stubbornly stuck to their turf.
The lion is also found in Gothenburg city’s coat of arms, the city where I was born. I would say that the lion is a somewhat recurring animal in my life. For example, I was born under the sign of Leo and have a dog, a Tibetan spaniel, whose breed is usually referred to as "little lion” because they once were temple guard dogs in Tibet. Also, my dog’s name is Leo, admittedly after one of my favorite artists Leonardo da Vinci, but still.
My maternal grandparents were both farm children in Västergötland but chose to leave life in the country and move to town. There they had five children, one of whom was my mother: Stig, Ulla-Britt, Ingvor, Agnetha and Gerd. I often spent time with my grandmother and grandfather in their summer cottage in Gräfsnäs, a house my grandfather built all by himself. I am very proud of my family roots in Västergötland.
In 2007, my grandmother passed away at the age of 87 and in 2011, my grandfather followed her at the age of 92.
Konsult & Coachning, Moderator & Föreläsare, Artist, Konferencier