James Barnor

Biography
View works. James Barnor, Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra, c. 1974
Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra, c. 1974
View works

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 recently given rise to numerous exhibitions and publications, including a touring retrospective curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, shown at the Serpentine in London in 2021, MASI Lugano, Switzerland, in 2022 and the Detroit Institute of Art, MI, USA in 2023. James Barnor: Stories, Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), curated by Matthieu Humery, opened at LUMA Arles, France in 2022, and was marked by the launch of the James Barnor Prize, dedicated to African photographers. In October 2023, James Barnor, Studio of Life opened at FOMU Antwerp, in Belgium.

Coinciding with the photographer’s 95th birthday, the James Barnor 95 Festival opened in Accra and Tamale in May 2024, with a month-long programme celebrating Barnor’s legacy and Ghana’s cultural art scene. 

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2026 Africa Fashion, Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris, France 

2025 Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination, MoMA, New-York, USA

2025 Photography and the Black Arts Movement, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA

2025 Ritratti, Collection Florence & Damien Bachelot, Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento italiano, Turin, Italie 

2025 Africa Fashion, McCord Stewart Museum, Montréal, Québec, Canada

2025 Image Vevey, Vevey, Switzerland 

2025 Africa Fashion, The Field Museum, Chicago, USA 

2024 Africa Fashion, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

2024 James Barnor 95 Festival (multiple venues) Dikan Library, Accra; Nuku Studio, Tamale; Red Clay & SCCA, Tamale; Institute Museum of Ghana, Accra; Ghana Club, Accra; outdoor exhibition in Jamestown, Accra (29.05.2024 - ongoing) 

2023 Africa Fashion, Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA

2023 James Barnor, Studio of Life, FOMU, Antwerp, BE

2023 Africa Fashion, Brooklyn Museum, New-York, USA

2022-23 James Barnor, Stories: Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), LUMA Foundation, Arles, FR

2022 Africa Fashion, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

2022 Ever Young, Barakat Contemporary, Seoul, KR

2022 10 years !, anniversary exhibition (collective), Galerie Clémentine de la Feronnière, Paris, France 

2021 James Barnor - The Roadmaker, Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, FR

2021-23 James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Serpentine North Gallery, London, UK

Museo d’Arte della Svizzera Italiana (MASI), Lugano, Switzerland (13.03.2022 - 31.07.2022)

Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Detroit, MI, USA (28.05.2023 - 01.10.2023)
2021 James Barnor: Ghanaian Modernist, Bristol Photo Festival, City Museum of Bristol, UK
2019 James Barnor - A retrospective, Nubuke Foundation, Accra, GH
2019 Paris-Londres, Music Migrations (1962-1989), (group exhibition) Musée de la Porte Dorée, Paris, FR 2017 Ever Young, Musée du quai Branly, Paris, FR
2017-22 La Vie selon James Barnor/Life According to James Barnor - Touring exhibition

11ème Rencontres de Bamako, Bamako, Mali.
Mupho, Musée de la Photographie, Saint Louis, Sénégal (2018); Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana (2018); IF Johannesburg, South Africa (2020); CCF Windhoek, Namibie (2021), AF Lusaka, Zambia (2022) To be continued in AF Gaborone, Botswana; AF Durban; AF Port-Elizabeth; AF Potchefstroom;

2012 Another London (group exhibition), Tate Modern, London, UK
2010 Ever Young: James Barnor (Touring exhibition) Autograph ABP, Rivington Place, London, UK

W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University, Boston, (MA) USA (2010)
South African National Gallery, Capetown (2012); Impressions Gallery, York, UK (2013); Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris (2015); BAND Gallery, Toronto, CA (2016)

2007 Mr Barnor’s Independence Diaries, Black Cultural Archives, London, UK

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Bristol Museum, Bristol, UK
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR

Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA

FOMU, Antwerp, BE
Guggenheim Museum, Abu Dhabi, UAE

LUMA Foundation, Arles, FR/Zürich, CH
MASI Lugano, Lugano, CH
MoMA, New York, USA

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MI, USA
musée du quai Branly, Paris, FR
National Portrait Gallery, London, UK

New Orleans Museum of Art, LA, USA

Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, USA
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, IL, USA

Tate, London, UK
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK

 

MONOGRAPHIES

 

James Barnor, Photopoche/Photofile, Actes Sud/Thames & Hudson, 2023

James Barnor, Stories: Pictures from the Archive (1947-1987), LUMA Foundation/Maison CF/RRB Photobooks, 2022

James Barnor, Accra/London - A Retrospective, Koenig Books/Serpentine Galleries, 2021

The Roadmaker, Maison CF/RRB Photobooks, 2021

Ever Young, Autograph ABP/Clémentine de la Féronnière, 2015 

Download Artist's CV (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Works
  • Roy Ankrah at work, Accra
    Roy Ankrah at work, Accra
  • Self-portrait with a store assistant at the West African Drug Company, central Accra
    Self-portrait with a store assistant at the West African Drug Company, central Accra
  • The first client of the Ever Young Studio after its installation in Jamestown (an undergraduate student at the University of Ghana, Legon), Accra
    The first client of the Ever Young Studio after its installation in Jamestown (an undergraduate student at the University of Ghana, Legon), Accra
  • A member of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) at a political rally in Kumasi (central Ghana)
    A member of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) at a political rally in Kumasi (central Ghana)
  • The Nigerian Superman, a renowned performer in Mantse Agbona, Jamestown, Accra
    The Nigerian Superman, a renowned performer in Mantse Agbona, Jamestown, Accra
  • Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London (Trainer Angelo Dundee and coach Eddie Futch), Earl's Court, London, August 1966
    Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London (Trainer Angelo Dundee and coach Eddie Futch), Earl's Court, London, August 1966
  • Drum cover girl Erlin Ibreck stepping out of a Jaguar in Kilburn, London
    Drum cover girl Erlin Ibreck stepping out of a Jaguar in Kilburn, London
  • Rosemarie “Funflower” Thompson posing for Drum at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Rosemarie “Funflower” Thompson posing for Drum at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Photoshoot with Erlin Ibreck at Campbell- Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Photoshoot with Erlin Ibreck at Campbell- Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Constance Mulondo, a student and singer from Uganda, aka “Cool Constance”, posing for the cover of Drum magazine at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
    Constance Mulondo, a student and singer from Uganda, aka “Cool Constance”, posing for the cover of Drum magazine at the Campbell-Drayton Studio, Gray’s Inn Road, London
  • Self-portrait with a model during James Barnor’s training at the Agfa-Gevaert laboratory in Mortsel, Belgium
    Self-portrait with a model during James Barnor’s training at the Agfa-Gevaert laboratory in Mortsel, Belgium
  • Close-up portrait of Mr Sammy Tetteh’s secretary, Accra
    Close-up portrait of Mr Sammy Tetteh’s secretary, Accra
  • Sick Hagemeyer shop assistant as a seventies icon posing in front of the United Trading Company headquarters, Accra
    Sick Hagemeyer shop assistant as a seventies icon posing in front of the United Trading Company headquarters, Accra
  • Model posing for the 1974 Agip calendar, Accra,
    Model posing for the 1974 Agip calendar, Accra,
  • Filling up the Studio X23 car at the Agip petrol station for its 1974 calendar, Accra
    Filling up the Studio X23 car at the Agip petrol station for its 1974 calendar, Accra
  • Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London
    Muhammad Ali preparing for his fight against Brian London
  • James Barnor’s studio assistant stepping out of the darkroom, Studio X23
    James Barnor’s studio assistant stepping out of the darkroom, Studio X23
  • “Baby on All Fours”, Eric Nii Addoquaye Ankrah, Ever Young Studio, Accra
    “Baby on All Fours”, Eric Nii Addoquaye Ankrah, Ever Young Studio, Accra
  • Selina Opong, one of the first policewomen in Ghana, caught in a pensive pose, Ever Young Studio
    Selina Opong, one of the first policewomen in Ghana, caught in a pensive pose, Ever Young Studio
  • The “Ghanaian Indian”, after a fashion show, Ever Young Studio
    The “Ghanaian Indian”, after a fashion show, Ever Young Studio
  • A wedding guest in the park behind the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Accra
    A wedding guest in the park behind the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Accra
  • Sophia Salomon, daughter of James Barnor’s landlady, Tip Toe area, Kokomlemle, Accra
    Sophia Salomon, daughter of James Barnor’s landlady, Tip Toe area, Kokomlemle, Accra
  • Margaret Obiri-Yeboah, a friend of James Barnor outside the Sick Hagemeyer store, Accra
    Margaret Obiri-Yeboah, a friend of James Barnor outside the Sick Hagemeyer store, Accra
  • Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra
    Untitled, two young girls and one young boy, studio X23, Accra
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