Heather Akosua Agyepong is a British photographer, visual artist, performer and actor, living in London. Her work is held in the collection of

Mead Art Museum Mead Art Museum houses the fine art collection of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Opened in 1949, the building is named after architect William Rutherford Mead (class of 1867), of the prestigious architectural firm McKim, Mead & White. ...

Early life and education

Agyepong was born and raised in London and is of

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

heritage. She earned a National Diploma in Performing Arts from

City of Westminster College City of Westminster College is a further education college in the City of Westminster, England, founded originally as Paddington Technical Institute in 1904 and gaining its current name in 1990. The college has two centres in central London, lo ...

; a BSc in Applied Psychology from the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

; and an MA in Photography & Urban Cultures from

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

Work

In ''Wish You Were Here'', commissioned by the Hyman Collection, Agyepong channels the American vaudeville performer

Aida Overton Walker Aida Overton Walker (February 14, 1880 – October 11, 1914), also billed as Ada Overton Walker and as "The Queen of the Cakewalk", was an American vaudeville performer, actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, and wife of vaudevillian George W ...

, by posing for a series of fake postcards. The work addresses physical and mental wellbeing. ''The Body Remembers'' is a solo performance that "explores how trauma lives in the body, particularly for Black British women across different generations."

Group photography exhibitions

*''Starting Something New: Recent Contemporary Art Acquisitions and Gifts'',

, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2019–2021 *''Wish You Were Here'', Format Festival, Derby, 2021

Awards

Jerwood Foundation The Jerwood Foundation is an independent grant-making foundation in the United Kingdom. In 1999 the Jerwood Foundation established the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, a registered charity under English law. History The Jerwood Foundation was establi ...

New Work Fund award for ''The Body Remembers'' *2018: Nominated, South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award *2021: Co-winner, with Joanne Coates, Jerwood/Photoworks Awards – a £15,000 award.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Collections

Agyepong's work is held in the following permanent collection: *

, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts

References

External links

* Living people 21st-century British photographers 21st-century English people 21st-century English women Actresses from London Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the University of Kent Artists from London Black British actresses Black British photographers British contemporary artists English people of Ghanaian descent English women photographers Photographers from London Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-actor-stub