Badowah was of the Fante people, an ethnic sub-group within Ghana’s largest multiethnic group, the Akan. Native to Kormantse, a settlement in Central Region, Ghana, Badowah was renowned for creating flags that narrated the history and culture of the Fante warrior society, the Asafo.

In the Ghanaian language Twi, Asafo flags are collectively referred to as “Mfrankaa” and range in size from five to three hundred feet long. The flags are traditionally embroidered, painted, and crafted with various fabrics. They often feature colorful renderings of people, animals, and objects in surreal settings with satirical elements. Badowah utilized these visual components to depict three main areas of cultural relevance: references to local Akan proverbs illustrating cultural values and colloquial wisdom; historical narrations of the Fante people’s complex relationship with the British military throughout Ghana’s colonial period; and recountings of the traditional lore of Fante military companies, also known as “Asafo.” During special ceremonies, an Asafo company member trained to dance with an Asafo flag, known as a “Frankaakitanyi,” moves in concert with drummers and singers to reenact the company’s battle stories. From 1935 to 2000, Badowah created his major bodies of work while at the Kormantse Workshop, a Ghanian cultural organization, where he collaborated with Asafo company members to determine flag compositions, color palettes, and visual narratives.

Badowah’s Asafo flags were presented in the exhibition Art, Honor, and Ridicule: Fante Asafo Flags from Southern Ghana at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles in 2022. His work entered the Studio Museum’s collection in 1993.