ABOUT JAMES BARNOR
Born in Ghana in 1929, James Barnor opened his renowned Ever Young studio in Accra, where he immortalized a nation at the moment of its independence. He was one of the first photojournalists to collaborate with The Daily Graphic, a newspaper published in Ghana by London’s Daily Mirror Group.
In 1959, two years after Ghana’s independence, Barnor moved to London to deepen his technical knowledge of the medium. He discovered colour photography at the Medway College of Art and his pictures were published on the front page of Drum, an important magazine founded in South Africa in 1951 and symbol of the anti-apartheid movement. He eloquently captured the spirit of Swinging London and the experiences of the African diaspora in the British capital.
In the late 1960s, he was recruited by Agfa-Gevaert and returned to Ghana to set up the country’s first colour laboratory. He stayed there for the next twenty years, working in his new Studio X23 as a freelance photographer and for state agencies in Accra.
Today, Barnor lives in the United Kingdom and devotes most of his time to his work, in a spirit of transmission. Barnor’s work has in recent years inspired a new generation of artists and given rise to numerous exhibitions and publications, including an important retrospective, James Barnor: Accra/London. This touring exhibition, curated by Hans Ulrich-Obrist, Lizzie Carey-Thomas and Awa Konaté, was presented at the Serpentine North Gallery in 2021. It is currently on view at MASI Lugano (CH), and is set to travel to the Detroit Institute of Arts (USA) in 2023. A new exhibition, James Barnor, Stories: Pictures from the Archives (1947-1987), opened at LUMA Arles in July 2022 as part of the international photography festival Les Rencontres d’Arles.
James Barnor ©Dan Kirmatzis 2022 @dankirmatzis
SOLO SHOWS
2022
James Barnor, Stories: Pictures from the Archives (1947-1987), LUMA Arles, France
James Barnor, Ever Young, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, South Korea
James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Lugano, Switzerland 2021 James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective,Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (19 May–24 October 2021) - MASI Lugano, Switzerland (13 March–19 June 2022) ; DIA, Detroit, USA (28 May–1 October 2023) - touring exhibition
The Roadmaker, Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France
James Barnor, Ghanaian Modernist, Bristol Photo Festival, City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA
James Barnor, Bristol Photo Festival, City Museum of Bristol, UK
2018 La Vie selon James Barnor, Musée de la Photographie de Saint-Louis, Senegal; Galerie 1957, Accra, Ghana; IF Johannesburg, South Africa; AF Lusaka, Zambia; CCF Windhoek, Namibie - AF Gaborone, Botswana; AF Durban; AF Port-Elizabeth; AF Potchefstroom - La Vie selon James Barnor touring exhibition
2019 James Barnor, A retrospective, Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana
Colors, Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France
2017 La Vie selon James Barnor/Life according to James Barnor, 11e biennale des Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali 2012 Qirv Presents… A Heritage Ever Young, Accra, Ghana, 30th June 2012 - 2nd July 2012. Curated by James Barnor and Myx Quest. Launched at British Council followed by public exhibition at Silverbird Lounge, Accra Mall.
2010 Ever Young, Casa Africa, Canary Islands (2020); BAND Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2016); Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France (2015); Impressions Gallery, York, UK (2013); South African National Gallery, Capetown, South Africa (2012); Autograph ABP Rivington Place, London, UK (2010); W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA USA (2010) - Ever Young touring exhibition
2007 Mr Barnor’s Independence Diaries, Black Cultural Archives, London, UK
2004 Acton Arts Forum, London, UK 2022 MASI, Lugano, CH LUMA Foundation, Arles, FR/Zürich, CH 2021 MoMA, New York, USA Centre Pompidou, Paris, France Smart Art Museum, University of Chicago, USA Victoria and Albert Museum, London (and 2015), UK 2020 Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA
2017 National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
2016 Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
2015 Tate Modern, London, UK 2022 James Barnor, Stories. Pictures from the archive (1947-1987), LUMA Arles exhibition catalog - https://www.maisoncf.fr/produit/james-barnor-stories/ 2021 James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Koenig Book/Serpentine -
https://www.maisoncf.fr/produit/james-barnor-serpentine-exhibition-catalog/ 2021 James Barnor, The Roadmaker, ed. Maison CF (Paris) -
https://www.maisoncf.fr/produit/james-barnor-the-roadmaker/ 2015 James Barnor, Ever Young, ed. Clémentine de la Féronnière/Autograph ABP
https://www.maisoncf.fr/produit/ever-young-2/
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
BOOKS
PRESS AND ESSAYS (Recent Selection)
Post MomA, cur. Léllé Demertzi - https://post.moma.org/the-ever-young-photographer-james-barnor/
Autograph ABP, cur. Renée Mussai - https://autograph.org.uk/blog/forever-young-happy-91st-birthday-james-barnor/
The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/may/21/james-barnor-photographer-retrospective-review-serpentine
Vogue (cover by James Barnor) - https://www.vogue.com/article/james-barnor-accra-london-retrospective-exhibition-serpentine
SSense, cur. Oluremi C. Onabanjo - https://www.ssense.com/en-gb/editorial/culture/looking-good
Telegraph - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/artists/photographic-pioneer-went-war-ghana-swinging-london/
BJP - https://www.1854.photography/2021/06/looking-back-james-barnor-reflects/
Konbini, 2021 - https://arts.konbini.com/photo/daccra-a-londres-le-photographe-james-barnor-racontait-le-ghana-et-sa-diaspora/
James Barnor with a model in Agfa-Gevaert studio, Mortsel, Belgium, 1969
Print making on the darkroom, Studio X23, Accra