James Barnor HonFRPS (born 6 June 1929) is a

Ghana 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 the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian photographer who has been based in London since the 1990s. His career spans six decades, and although for much of that period his work was not widely known, it has latterly been discovered by new audiences. In his

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

and studio photography, Barnor represents societies in transition in the 1950s and 1960s: Ghana moving toward

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, and London becoming a multicultural metropolis.Alexandra Genova
"Party time! The photographer who captured the other swinging sixties"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 29 November 2019. He has said: "I was lucky to be alive when things were happening...when Ghana was going to be independent and Ghana became independent, and when I came to England

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

were around. Things were happening in the 60s, so I call myself Lucky Jim." He was Ghana's first full-time newspaper photographer in the 1950s, and he is credited with introducing colour processing to Ghana in the 1970s. It has been said: "James Barnor is to Ghana and photojournalism what

Ousmane Sembène Ousmane Sembène (; 1 January 1923 or 8 January 1923 – 9 June 2007), often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The ''Los Angeles Times'' consider ...

was to

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

and African cinema." Barnor has spoken of how his work was rediscovered in 2007 during the "Ghana at 50" jubilee season by curator

Nana Oforiatta-Ayim Nana Oforiatta Ayim is a Ghanaian writer, art historian and filmmaker. Background Nana Ofosuaa Oforiatta Ayim was raised in Germany, England, and her ancestral homeland in Ghana. She studied Russian and Politics at the University of Bristol and ...

, who organised the first exhibition of his photographs at

Black Cultural Archives Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is an archive and heritage centre in Brixton, London, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Also known as BCA, it was founded in 1981, by educationalist and historian Len Gar ...

(BCA)."James Barnor: 'My advice to young photographers: fall in love with books'"
, Photobook Bristol, 9 March 2016. Appreciation of his work as a studio portraitist,

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and Black lifestyle photographerKate Salter
"Colour me beautiful: James Barnor's photographs for Drum magazine"
Fashion, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 7 December 2010. has been further heightened since 2010 when a major solo retrospective exhibition of his photographs, ''Ever Young: James Barnor'', was mounted at Rivington Place, London, followed by a series of exhibitions including in the United States and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. His photographs were collated by the non-profit agency

Autograph ABP Autograph ABP, previously known as the Association of Black Photographers, is a British-based international, non-profit-making, photographic arts agency. History Autograph was originally established in London in 1988. Founders included the photog ...

during a four-year project funded by the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and in 2011 became part of the new Archive and Research Centre for Culturally Diverse Photography. Barnor's photographs have also in recent years had showings in Ghana, France (

Paris Photo Paris Photo is an annual international art fair dedicated to photography. It was founded in 1997, and is held in November at the Grand Palais exhibition hall and museum complex, located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement in Par ...

2011, Galerie Baudoin Lebon; Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière),Clémentine Mercier
"James Barnor, Flash-Backs Ghanéens"
''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'', 13 November 2015.

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The first monograph of his work, entitled ''James Barnor: Ever Young'', was published in 2015, including an extensive conversation between Barnor and

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

with Francis Hodgson.

Early years

Frederick Seton James Barnor was born in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, in what was then the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, West Africa. Giving an insight on how he came to choose his career, he said: "Photography was in my family. My two uncles were photographers. My cousin was a photographer, and I found out later when I got into it that another cousin was also a photographer."Kwaku
"Lucky Jim, still working at 81"
''New African'', April 2011, pp. 80–82. At the age of 17, Barnor was teaching basket weaving at a missionary school and the headmaster gave him a camera "to play around with––it was a

Kodak Brownie The Brownie was a series of cameras made by Eastman Kodak. Released in 1900, it introduced the snapshot to the masses. It was a basic cardboard box camera with a simple convex-concave lens that took 2 1/4-inch square pictures on No. 117 roll film ...

127, made of plastic"."Picture This – Photographer James Barnor Looks Back at 60 Years Behind the Camera"

Nowness Nowness (stylized NOWNESS) is a digital video channel that was launched in 2010 by its founder Jefferson Hack as a brand of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

, 25 September 2010. In 1947, Barnor started an apprenticeship with his cousin J. P. Dodoo, a well-known portrait photographer,Angela Cobbinah
"Following Nkrumah"
, NewsAfrica, 6 January 2011. "mostly taking pictures of people because when you take pictures of flowers and places there's nobody to pay for them. I did that for two years but I had always wanted to be a policeman. I applied to be a police photographer and was accepted, but before I could start my training my uncle gave me the camera he used for photography."

Ever Young Studio

After finishing the apprenticeship he set up his own freelance photographic practice ("I did a lot of developing and printing for friends, as well as taking photos. I called my company FS James Barnor's Quick Photo Service — FS are my initials, for Frederick Seton. If you bring me the negatives, you will get the photos the next day.")Riason Naidoo
"Photographer James Barnor – Ever Young at 90"
''Mail & Guardian'', 21 June 2019. in a makeshift street studio in the Jamestown area of the capital, using a backdrop outside his rented room. When his landlord wanted to reclaim the room, from 1953 Barnor began to operate his Ever Young Studio.Audrey Quaye
"Upcoming exhibition of James Barnor's Photography at Harvard University's WEB DuBois Institute starting on Thursday, January 28th, 2010"
Modern Ghana, 25 January 2010. Its name derives from the subject of an English comprehension extract he had studied as a schoolboy, entitled " Iduna's Grove", about a Norse goddess giving out magic apples to grant eternal youthfulness; it was also an allusion to the expected practice of retouching sitters' faces to perfection — "Long before

Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for Windows and macOS. It was originally created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, the software has become the industry standard not only in raster ...

existed you would use a pencil. I would retouch the pictures to make people look younger." Located close to the once-famous Seaview Hotel, the studio "soon drew a mixture of clients from families to night revellers and dignitaries". Among those whom he photographed were Ghana's future first president

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

(pictured kicking a football in one of Barnor's shots),Angela Cobbinah
"Ghanaian photographer features in London exhibition"
Africa Briefing, 30 March 2015.

pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

politician

J. B. Danquah Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah (18 December 1895 – 4 February 1965) was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, lawyer, and one of the founding fathers of Ghana. He played a significant role in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, which was former ...

, Sir

Charles Arden-Clarke Sir Charles Noble Arden-Clarke (25 July 1898 – 16 December 1962) was a British colonial Administrator of the Government, administrator. Biography Arden-Clarke was educated at Rossall School. He was the Resident Commissioner of the Bechuan ...

(last British governor of the Gold Coast), the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, the wife of Prince Edward. He inherited the dukedom ...

and then

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n Vice-President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

(when he attended Ghana's Independence ceremony in March 1957), as well as boxing champion Roy Ankrah.

Photojournalism with ''Daily Graphic'' and ''Drum''

At the same time as freelancing, Barnor became the first staff photographer employed by the ''

Daily Graphic ''The Daily Graphic: An Illustrated Evening Newspaper'' was the first American newspaper with daily illustrations. It was founded in New York City in 1873 by Canadian engravers George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo, and began publication ...

'' newspaper when it was established in Ghana in 1950 by Cecil King of the London Daily Mirror Group. Barnor also sold photographs to other publications, notably the South African magazine ''

Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

'', which covered news, politics and entertainment. ''Drum'' was founded in 1951 by Jim Bailey, with whom Barnor established an ongoing relationship, using the magazine's

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

office as his base when he first went to London.

1960s in the UK

In December 1959 he travelled to England to develop his skills, working at Colour Processing Laboratories Ltd,

Edenbridge, Kent Edenbridge is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks (district), Sevenoaks district of Kent, England. Its name derives from Old English ''Eadhelmsbrigge'' (meaning "Eadhelm's Bridge"). It is located on the border of ...

, and attending evening and other part-time classes before being awarded a Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board scholarship to study full-time at

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

College of Art in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

, graduating in 1961. Subsequent to this course, he stayed on in the UK and continued working as a photographer and technician. His images from this period document Africans in Britain, notably his work as a fashion photographer with black models against London backdrops, often for the covers of ''Drum'', then the leading magazine in Africa.

1970–94

After a decade in England, Barnor went back to Ghana, where he set up the country's first colour processing facilities. For the following 24 years in Ghana he worked as a professional photographer, was the official African representative for

Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. It has three divisions: * Agfa Graphics, which offers integrated pre ...

(at the time the leading company for imaging technology), and was also given work by the American embassy and Ghanaian government agencies under the auspices of

J. J. Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the de ...

Return to London: 1994–present

In 1994, Barnor returned to London, where his work latterly began to be discovered by a new wider audience, through exhibitions at venues such as

(2007), Rivington Place (2010), and elsewhere. "At the age of 79, I was recognised," he told his audience at a talk at

Chelsea Theatre Chelsea Theatre is a studio theatre located on the Kings Road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. ...

in 2013."Black & White Memories: Colonialism Through the Lens of James Barnor"
Creolita, 11 December 2013. His 85th birthday in June 2014 was marked with a showcase of his work in the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

, where he lives in sheltered accommodation in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, West London. Barnor continues to exhibit and give talks on his work, including in 2016 at the V&A (as part of the

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

photography and film exhibition season), at Photonook Bristol and at the October Gallery."Daniele Tamagni and James Barnor: 8 - 30 September 2016"
October Gallery. He said in a 2019 interview: "Sometimes the more you give, the more you get. That's why I'm still going at 90!"

Exhibitions

In 2007, the interest taken in his work by

Nana Oforiatta Ayim Nana Oforiatta Ayim is a Ghanaian writer, art historian and filmmaker. Background Nana Ofosuaa Oforiatta Ayim was raised in Germany, England, and her ancestral homeland in Ghana. She studied Russian and Politics at the University of Bristol and ...

led to Barnor's first show; he has said: "She was the first curator/ writer to organize a show of my work, and she is the first one who suggested I should do a book." From 24 April to 24 June 2007 the exhibition entitled ''Mr Barnor's Independence Diaries'' took place at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA), curated by Oforiatta-Ayim, as part of BCA's Ghana Jubilee Season.Louise Ray
"Black Cultural Archives Launches Exciting Heritage Programme to Commemorate Ghana's Golden Jubilee"
Community Archives and Heritage Group, 7 March 2007. In spring 2010, Barnor's first US exhibition was presented by Autograph ABP in association with the

W. E. B. Du Bois Institute The W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, formerly the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research, is part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research located at Harvard University. Its main work is ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

at the Rudenstine Gallery,

Hutchins Center for African & African American Research The Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, also known as the Hutchins Center, is affiliated with Harvard University. The Center supports scholarly research on the history and culture of people of African descent around the world, ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. The first major solo retrospective exhibition of Barnor's photographs, ''Ever Young: James Barnor'', was mounted at Rivington Place in London from September to November 2010, curated by Renée Mussai of Autograph ABP's Archive and Research Centre. Documenting life in Ghana from the late 1940s to 1950s, and African life during London's "

Swinging Sixties The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

" (famous faces include

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

, who defended his world heavyweight title against

Brian London Brian Sidney Harper (19 June 1934 – 23 June 2021), known professionally as Brian London, was an English professional boxer who competed from 1955 to 1970. He held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title from 1958 to 1959, and twice ...

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

in 1966) as well as later decades, the exhibition received wide and favourable coverage within the UK media. As one reviewer noted, "The pictures have become slices of history, documenting race and modernity in the post-colonial world." For art historian

Kobena Mercer Kobena Mercer (born 1960) is a British art historian and writer on contemporary art and visual culture. His writing on Robert Mapplethorpe and Rotimi Fani-Kayode has been described as "among the most incisive (and delightful to read) critiques o ...

"Barnor captures the mood of a nation on the cusp of self-determination.... Cutting across the divide between periphery and metropolis, Barnor’s images suggest that 'Africa' has never been a static entity, confined to the boundaries of geography, but has always had a diasporic dimension.... The rediscovery of Barnor's images today reveals how photographs have a diasporic life of their own. By virtue of mechanical reproduction, which undercuts the distinction between the original and the copy, photographs are vulnerable to a process of decontextualisation – making them orphans, thrown into the world without a fixed 'home'. But in the research process of retrieval and reassembly that has unified Barnor’s disparate images into a holistic body of work, we have a kind of homecoming in which previously orphaned images are given a second life."

The exhibition was subsequently shown at the

South African National Gallery The Iziko South African National Gallery is the national art gallery of South Africa located in Cape Town. It became part of the Iziko collection of museums – as managed by the Department of Arts and Culture – in 2001. It then became an agenc ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 2011.''James Barnor: Ever Young''
Autograph ABP. ''Ever Young: James Barnor'' also toured to

Impressions Gallery Impressions Gallery is an independent contemporary photography gallery in Bradford, England. It was established in 1972 and located in York until moving to Bradford in 2007. Impressions Gallery also runs a photography bookshop, publishes its own ...

,Exhibitions past: "Ever Young"
Impressions Gallery.

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, exhibited from 5 July to 31 August 2013. In August 2012, the show ''Another London: International Photographers Capture London Life 1930–1980'' at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

included work by Barnor, with his 1967 photograph of

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

reporter " Mike Eghan at Piccadilly Circus, London" featuring on the cover of the catalogue. Barnor is featured in the exhibition ''Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s-1990s'' that opened in 2015, the culmination of a seven-year collaborative project between the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

(V&A) and the Black Cultural Archives in

Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...

, supported by the

, showcasing a number of black British photographers and images of black Britain from the 1950s to the 1990s. His work was also represented in the

Photographers' Gallery The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to photography. It is also home to the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, established in ...

exhibition ''Work, Rest and Play: British Photography from the 1960s to Today'' (9 May–12 July 2015), and was included alongside that of such iconic photographers as Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy, John French,

Norman Parkinson Norman Parkinson (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was an English portrait and fashion photographer. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved his subjects out of the studio and used outdoor settings. While servin ...

, John Hopkins,

John Cowan John Cowan (born August 24, 1953) is an American soul music and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player. He was the lead vocalist and bass player for the New Grass Revival. Cowan became the band's bassist in 1972 after the departure ...

, Eric Swayne and Philip Townsend in the exhibition ''Swinging Sixties London - Photography in the Capital of Cool'', which opened in June 2015 at

Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam or Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam is a photography museum located at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The museum has four different exhibitions at any given time in which different photographic genres are shown, such as document ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In October 2015 Barnor's work was shown in Paris at the Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière in an exhibition entitled ''Ever Young'' that created "a narrative of two societies in transition"."Prolific works by Ghanaian photographer, James Barnor go on exhibit in France"
EbonyLife TV, 10 November 2015. Sarah Preston, who initiated the production of the book about Barnor that was launched alongside the exhibition, says: "When I discovered James Barnor's work for the first time — on Baudoin Lebon's stand at

2011 — it felt like a breath of fresh air. Saturated by French collections of West African studio photography, seeing outdoor images of every day life in Ghana in black and white, through the eyes of a Ghanaian rather than a white photographer, was a revelation. Discovering Barnor's colour work from the 70s was the icing on the cake. Why had I never seen this before? Why had it not been exhibited? The question of the importance of showing archival material comes to mind. But also one wonders: how much stuff are we missing?" In September 2016, the October Gallery hosted an exhibition of Barnor's work alongside that of Daniele Tamagni (b. 1975), an Italian photographer who trained as an art historian before travelling worldwide to document style and fashion subcultures, which pairing was described as giving "a sumptuous view of the continuing legacy of African style". A major retrospective of Barnor's work at London's

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

was announced for 2021, having been postponed from June 2020. Discussing his exhibition at Serpentine with critic Will Fenstermaker in T Magazine, Barnor noted that his brother had tossed out nearly a decade's worth of the artist's work: "If that bulk of work were available, it would show another part of me altogether." Barnor's 91st birthday on 6 June 2020 was celebrated with #StillEverYoung, an online exhibition of his work.

Solo exhibitions

* 2007: ''Mr Barnor's Independence Diaries'',

, London, UK * 2010: ''James Barnor: Ever Young'', Rivington Place, London, UK * 2010: ''James Barnor: Ever Young, Street and Studio Photography, Ghana/UK'',

, Boston, US (28 January–26 May) * 2011: ''James Barnor: Ever Young'',

, Cape Town, South Africa * 2013: ''James Barnor: Ever Young'', Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK (5 July–31 August) * 2015: ''Ever Young'', Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France * 2016: ''Ever Young — James Barnor'', Black Artists' Network in Dialogue (BAND) in partnership with Autograph, BAND Gallery, Toronto, Canada (28 April–29 May) * 2016: ''James Barnor: Ever Young'', Rebuild Foundation, Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago, US (23 June–3 September) * 2017–2018: ''La vie selon James Barnor'', 11e biennale des Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali * 2017–2018: ''Ever Young'', Musée du Quai Branly, vitrine jardin, Paris * 2018: ''La vie selon James Barnor'', Mupho Musée de la Photographie de Saint-Louis, Saint Louis, Sénégal * 2018: ''La vie selon James Barnor'',

Gallery 1957 Gallery 1957 is a contemporary art gallery located in Accra, Ghana. The gallery intends to present artists of West Africa and the diaspora. It was established in March 2016 by British construction company owner Marwan Zakhem. , the gallery has ...

, Kempinski Hotel, Accra, Ghana * 2019: ''Colors'', Galerie Clémentine de la Férronnière, Paris * 2019: ''La vie selon James Barnor'', Gerard Sekoto Gallery, Johannesburg * 2019–2020: ''James Barnor: A Retrospective'',

Nubuke Foundation Nubuke Foundation is an art foundation in East Legon in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It was established in April 2006. Exhibitions Time, Trade & Travel The Time, Trade & Travel took place at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam from 25 A ...

, Accra, Ghana * 2021: ''James Barnor: Accra/London - A Retrospective'',

Serpentine Galleries The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

. * 2022: ''James Barnor: Stories. Pictures from the Archive (1947–1987)'',

LUMA Arles Luma Arles is an arts center in Arles, France, featuring a 15,000 square meter tower building designed by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry for the LUMA Foundation. For the building Gehry took some of his inspiration from the post-impres ...

Group exhibitions

* 2004: Acton Arts Festival * 2012: ''Another London: International Photographers Capture London Life 1930–1980'', at Tate Britain, London, UK (27 July–18 September) * 2015: ''Swinging Sixties London - Photography in the Capital of Cool'', Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (11 June—2 September) * 2015: ''Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s-1990s'', BCA (15 January–30 June) and V & A (16 February–24 May), London, UK * 2015: ''Work, Rest and Play: British Photography from the 1960s to Today'', Photographers' Gallery, London, UK (9 May–12 July) * 2016: ''Daniele Tamagni and James Barnor'', October Gallery, London, UK (8–30 September) * 2017–2018: ''It’s great to be young, photographies de James Barnor et Marc Riboud'', Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris

Published works

''James Barnor: Ever Young'', the first monograph of his work, was published in 2015 (Clémentine de la Féronnière / Autograph ABP, ) alongside his Paris exhibition, including an extensive interview with Barnor in conversation with

and Francis Hodgson.

Recognition and honours

Barnor's photographs are represented in the collections of the

, Tate and

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

in Britain. It has been said of him: "Photographer James Barnor is to decolonizing Ghana (and later to 1960s black Britain) what Oumar Ly is to Senegal or

Malick Sidibe Malik, Maleek, Malek or Malyk (Arabic: مَالِك or مَلِك) (Urdu & (Persian): مالک) () is a given name of Arabic origin. It is both used as first name and surname mainly in several Muslim countries and communities. Several Semitic ...

and

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. Keita most notably played for Lens (five seasons) and Barcelona (four), w ...

were to Mali." In 2011, Barnor was honoured with a GUBA (Ghana UK-Based Achievement) special "Lifetime Achievement" award. On receiving it, he revealed that it was the first award he had ever been given. In October 2016, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Ghana, Barnor was awarded the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

, conferred by President

John Dramani Mahama John Dramani Mahama (; born 29 November 1958) is a Ghanaian politician who served as President of Ghana from 24 July 2012 to 7 January 2017. He previously served as Vice President of Ghana from January 2009 to July 2012, and took office as presi ...

at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony held at

Accra International Conference Centre The Accra International Conference Centre is an events venue in Accra, Ghana. Other venues include the Ghana Trade Fair Center and the National Theatre, but the Conference Centre is the most popular due to its size and capacity as compared to th ...

. Barnor was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

in 2020. In February 2022, Barnor was named in CasildART's list of the top six Black British photographers, alongside Charlie Phillips,

Armet Francis Armet Francis (born 29 January 1945) is a Jamaican-born photographer and publisher who has lived in London since the 1950s. He has been documenting and chronicling the lives of people of the African diaspora for more than 40 years and his assignm ...

Neil Kenlock Neil Emile Elias Kenlock (born 1950) is a Jamaican-born photographer and media professional who has lived in London since the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, Kenlock was the official photographer of the British Black Panthers, and he has be ...

Pogus Caesar Dr Pogus Caesar (born 1953) is a British photographer, conceptual artist, archivist, author, curator, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England. Early life Dr Pogus Caesar was bo ...

and

Vanley Burke Vanley Burke (born 1951) is a British Jamaican photographer and artist. His photographs capture experiences of his community's arrival in Britain, the different landscapes and cultures he encountered, the different ways of survival and experien ...

References

External links

Electric Avenue: a special photo essay curated by the NS, "Introduction: Electric avenues" by Sukhdev Sandhu
''New Statesman'', 1 August 2012.
James Barnor portfolio
at Autograph ABP website. * Zaneta Denny
"James Barnor: legendary Ghanaian photographer"
Community Channel, 27 May 2012.
"James Barnor at Galerie Baudoin Lebon (Paris Photo 2011)".

James Barnor's Artist Talk
recorded at Impressions Gallery on Saturday, 10 August 2013.
"Ever Young: James Barnor"
on Vimeo.

Voices of East Anglia.
"For EVER YOUNG: The Iconic Photography of James Barnor"
ACCRA otALT Radio, 29 June 2012. * Ade Sawyerr
"Preserving the past to inspire the future:everyoungjba.org"
The Ade Sawyerr Blog.
"James Barnor"
at Victoria and Albert Museum.
Video interview with James Barnor
3 July 2015 (in connection with "Swinging Sixties London" exhibition at Foam, Netherlands).

(interview in French), ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', 14 October 2015.
"Celebrating James Barnor – the first photographer to shoot Ghana in colour "
''The Guardian'', 22 September 2016. * Riason Naidoo
"Photographer James Barnor – Ever Young at 90"
''Mail & Guardian'', 21 June 2019. * Riason Naidoo
"James Barnor: 'I’m finally getting recognition'"
28 June 2019. * Eve Jackson
"Meet 90-year-old photographic legend James Barnor"
''Encore!'', 21 November 2019. * Renée Mussai
"(FOR)EVER YOUNG: HAPPY 91ST BIRTHDAY JAMES BARNOR!"
Autograph, 5 June 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnor, James 1929 births Portrait photographers Ghanaian photographers Ghanaian photojournalists Living people Street photographers Fashion photographers Black British photographers Ghanaian emigrants to England Documentary photographers People from Accra Recipients of the Order of the Volta Photographers from London Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society