Barnor’s Gaze a Continental Vortex

James Barnor might be a name unknown to some alive today. However, his gaze upon Black bodies in Africa forms the infrastructure of how we document Africa to this day. Having had the fortune of becoming the first contracted photojournalist in Ghana in 1950, Barnor’s journey with how Black people are seen and rendered visible has been a decades-long exercise. The works of this African icon has been made available to the public in Botswana through the efforts of Alliance Française de Gaborone. Now approaching his 94 th birthday, Barnor took time out of his schedule to grace the launch of the exhibition of his work. Albeit a virtual presence, one was not too distant from enjoying the youthfulness and mischief that he embodies. These are, afterall, characteristics that most artists have been known to attribute their creativity to. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="4,3,2,1" ihc_mb_template="3" ] Born in Jamestown – founded from the 17 th Century British James Fort and now assimilated into the expansive melee of Accra – the photographer has experienced seasons of world history that some would marvel at. This is evident in the selection that is on display at Alliance Française for a month. The exhibition curated by Clémentine de la Féronnière is a peek into the body of work that Barnor created between the years 1948 and 1980 in Ghana as well as the United Kingdom. Born in 1929, James Barnor made his visual signature apparent when he was enlisted by the Daily Graphic – a publication under the United Kingdom-based Daily Mirror Group. Practising as a photographer in Ghana over a decade prior to the nation attaining its independence, it was in 1959 that Barnor left the two-year old republic for the United Kingdom. At this point, Barnor had, in his own words, “established relationships with people”, thus allowing him to “capture them in their joy”, something he revels in when looking back at his work. It was in the United Kingdom that Barnor was introduced to colour processing at Medway College of Art. This didn’t, however, change his interest in subjects. Looking through the collection hanging on the Alliance Française walls, one is transported through Barnor’s growth from ‘Ever Young’ – his maiden studio in Ghana – to his work under ‘X23 Studio’. The latter, he chips in, “was inspired by the address of the first studio, “so I wanted to maintain a tie between my return to Ghana and where I had started”. An important part of Barnor’s story as an iconic African visual storyteller involves his relationship with Drum Magazine . “I was in awe of James from the outset. He was very sensitive to the initial awkwardness I felt when posing for him and his camera,” says Erlin Iberck in a 2021 interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist. Iberck appears in a selection of Barnor’s portraits. Not to be taken lightly, Barnor’s photographs for Drum were subversions of the popular culture at the time. Not only was he a Black photographer capturing the fullness of Black people, but this was also a platform that was hard to come by in a time that was still highly polarised along lines of racial discrimination. Among the images that are available to view in the exhibition is a shot of the legendary Mohammed Ali as he prepares for his fight against Brian London that was captured in London in August 1966. For the part he has played in history, Barnor is now experiencing a new youth in that his work is travelling where he would have never imagined his imprint would go. A gap-toothed smile beaming from the television screen, he frankly shares with Ambassador Olivier Brochenin that he wishes he could be in Botswana with the audience engaging him. Admittedly not wielding a camera in his progressive age, he shares that young people must understand that “with your camera and education, you have everything that you need to record African history with accuracy”, adding that this chronicling must be done with caution because the lens may be used as an agent for good or malice. For his part, Ambassador Brochenin applauded Alliance Française de Gaborone for “highlighting an art form that may not have received attention in the African context” harping back to Barnor’s offer that the archiving and documentation of Africa and Africans through visual media is a fundamental testament of preservation of dignity. In her reflections, director of Alliance Française de Gaborone, Angélique Saverino, offered that exhibiting Barnor’s work is a natural progression in the institution’s mandate. “It is our place as a cultural organisation to share the work of such a creative,” she says, adding that the collective efforts of the network of Alliance Française offices has been the reason that this exhibition has been able to not only provide Barnor’s work to the public but to generate profits to him as well. The exhibition is but a nugget of the visuals that were captured over a period surpassing three decades. For anyone who wishes to delve into what the curiosity of a spritely African photographer generated when no such forum existed with ease, this is a highly recommended exhibition to view. [/ihc-hide-content]

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Barnor’s Gaze a Continental Vortex

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