James Barnor, pioneering Ghanaian-British photographer, to be celebrated on ninety fifth birthday with wide-reaching pageant


A collection of occasions celebrating the life and work of the pioneering Ghanaian-British photographer James Barnor will happen throughout Ghana this summer season.

The programme, titled James Barnor 95 Competition and anticipated to launch on the finish of Could, has been organized to coincide with the artist’s ninety fifth birthday. It was conceived by the gallerist Clémentine de la Féronnière following a dialog with Barnor throughout which he expressed his “want” to spend the special day in his homeland.

James Barnor, Self-portrait with a retailer assistant on the West African Drug Firm, central Accra (round 1952)

© James Barnor / Courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière

For greater than six many years, Barnor, born in Accra in 1929, has photographed main social, cultural and political developments throughout Ghana and England. As a younger man, he grew to become his nation’s first photojournalist, chronicling for the newspaper The Every day Graphic the rise of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, for instance, and the nation’s transition to independence from the UK in 1957. He additionally arrange his first studio, Ever Younger, in 1953. After shifting to England in 1959, he captured rising multiculturalism, the Swinging Sixties cultural revolution and the African diaspora—his photographs often showing in Drum, the influential South African journal which had workplaces in London.

James Barnor, Kwame Nkrumah welcomed residence upon his return from London in 1957 after the convention of Prime Ministers of the Commonwealth, Accra (July 1957)

© James Barnor / Courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière

Barnor can also be credited with organising the primary color processing laboratory in Ghana, after returning there within the Seventies. He moved to London once more in 1994, the place he lives in the present day.

James Barnor, Filling up the Studio X23 automotive on the Agip petrol station for its 1974 calendar, Accra (1973)

© James Barnor / Courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière

In recent times, Barnor’s birthdays have coincided with exhibitions of his work on the Serpentine Galleries and Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière in Paris. This yr’s pageant takes it up a gear, with exhibitions happening at round eight areas in Accra and Tamale. Amongst them is a retrospective held throughout the Nubuke Basis in Accra and the Nuku Studio in Tamale (opening 3 June), and a present about “Barnor on the highway”, opening on 2 June at Savannah Centre for Up to date Artwork in Tamale.

Additionally deliberate is a panel dialogue with Barnor on the Institute Museum of Ghana (1 June), specializing in the ladies depicted in his work within the Fifties; in addition to music and dance performances; documentaries screenings; and free group archiving and photojournalism workshops.

James Barnor, A visitors officer on obligation within the enterprise district (Atta Mills Excessive Avenue), Accra (Seventies)

© James Barnor / Courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière

Talking to The Artwork Newspaper, De la Féronnière says that, despite the fact that Barnor has connections with Ghanaian artists, she is wanting ahead to seeing his “response” to ”the standard of the up to date artwork scene in Ghana”, upon his return there. The pageant may even be an opportunity for Ghanaians to take pleasure in a variety of Barnor’s output, which is a crucial document of ”the historical past of Ghana and by extension of Africa”, she provides.

James Barnor, Naa Jacobson as Ballroom Queen after a trend present, Ever Younger Studio (round 1955)

© James Barnor / Courtesy galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière

Key to the pageant is a mission to take the work and broadcast it to a wider public, who may in any other case not have entry to it, says Féronnière. Certainly, one of many extra uncommon occasions will likely be an exhibition on an airplane, bought by the artist Ibrahim Mahama, which is able to journey by highway from Accra to Tamale, stopping in villages alongside the best way.

Féronnière hopes that displaying Barnor’s images throughout the nation will present a “democratisation of the work”. This speaks to, she provides, “one of many essential peculiarities of James as an artist”, who, from the very starting of his profession, has cherished to share and assist others.



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