The Dikan Center

The Dikan Center is what Paul built so the work would outlast him.

It began as a question about permanence. Photographs of Africa lived mostly in collections far from the people in them. Paul gathered more than 30,000 photography books in New York and shipped them to Accra, where in 2022 they became the founding collection of Africa’s largest photography library.

Today, Dikan is an African knowledge institution connecting archives and living knowledge to rigorous research, Africa-centered education, and African-led storytelling. Its purpose: to transform how Africans learn about Africa and tell its many stories. Dikan preserves, advances, and responsibly expands access to African knowledge — and moves it into public life through its flagship Photojournalism and Documentary Practice Program, exhibitions, and international internships. In 2025 Dikan unveiled an archive digitisation centre and conservation lab — reported as Ghana’s largest — and opened Dikan Ahenfie. Through the Awo Institute, which stewards its repository, Dikan reports having digitised more than 70 million Ghanaian historical records.

African knowledge, alive in learning and storytelling.

A new dikancenter.org is on its way. Until then, partnership and support inquiries are welcome at photo@paulninson.com.