At MASI in Lugano, the largest retrospective devoted to photographer James Barnor

From March 13 to July 31, 2022, MASI in Lugano presents James Barnor: Accra / London - A Retrospective, the largest retrospective ever devoted to photographer James Barnor (Accra, Ghana, 1929), in collaboration with Serpentine (London). His work has only recently been rediscovered and enhanced, but he is considered a visual witness to the social and political changes of his time, from Ghanaian independence to the African diaspora to the life of London’s African community. From photojournalism to studio portraits, from documentary to fashion and lifestyle photography, the Anglo-Ghanaian photographer has been distinguished by his modern gaze and pioneering approach.

Curated by Lizzie Carey-Thomas and Awa Konaté, the exhibition showcases more than two hundred images from Barnor’s extensive personal archive, including many previously unseen. In addition to vintage works, reprints and original documents, magazine and record covers are also on display, with a focus on the decades 1950-1980.

The exhibition focuses on the key themes of his art, from his beginnings in Accra to his London sojourns, in a chronological narrative. Barnor took his first steps in photography in the early 1950s in Accra, where he founded his “Ever Young” studio, a meeting center for people of all ages and walks of life. At the time, Ghana, a British colony, was moving toward independence. The rigid structure of large-format studio portraiture, which still makes its influence felt in his early black-and-white portraits, is destined to transform into dynamic, informal images as soon as he abandons studio and tripod and ventures out on the road, hunting for stories. He soon landed assignments for the Daily Graphic newspaper, becoming the country’s first photojournalist. Already in the work of this decade, collected in the exhibition in the “Ever Young” and “Independence” sections, there emerges that ability of his to bring official and personal stories equally back to a plane of intimate dialogue, encounter and human relationship.

Barnor’s journey continued in London, where he moved from 1959: here he would restore in vibrant images the life of the African community, becoming the most important witness of the African diaspora. His shots for South African Drum magazine, an anti-apartheid bastion, chronicle 1960s London through his frank, direct and countercultural gaze. Indeed, in a world of white Englishmen, Barnor puts models of African descent such as Erlin Ibreck and Marie Hallowi on the cover.

Driven by a desire to share technological innovations as well, he returned to Accra to establish the first color photography laboratory in the country, a technique he had studied at the Colour Processing Laboratories. Access to color also revolutionized the role of photography. Several images in the exhibition showcase the decorations, hairstyles, clothing and fashion of the time.

Among the many commissions he received were several photographs of record covers for musicians such as E. K. Nyame, father of Ghanaian highlife music. Barnor’s passion for music and love for the Ghanaian community also led him to run a children’s music group called Ebaahi Gbiko(All Will Be Well One Day), later renamed Fee Hi(All is Well), during those years. The troupe of musicians became an important part of the photographer’s life, who also accompanied the youngsters on a tour of Italy in 1983 as part of an anti-apartheid campaign. By 1994 Barnor returned to London, where he still lives today.

Completing the exhibition is a video by Campbell Addy, in which Barnor introduces his work, and a video documentation in which he explains his photographic technique.

Organized by the Serpentine Galleries in London, after the stop at MASI it will continue in America at the Detroit Institute of Arts (in spring 2023).

For info: www.masilugano.ch

Image: James Barnor, Untitled (1975) © James Barnor

At MASI in Lugano, the largest retrospective devoted to photographer James Barnor

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