Born on the 6th of June 1929, photographer James Barnor celebrated his 90th birthday this month. From developing and printing photos in a makeshift darkroom in his teenage years to establishing his Ever Young studio and working for The Daily Graphic in Accra in the 1950s, the Ghanaian’s pictures also capture the early development of studio photography and photojournalism in Ghana.
James Barnor recorded important historical events for Drum magazine in Accra such as Kwame Nkrumah’s rise to power, Ghana’s independence in 1957, politics, sport and special features in London such as Muhammad Ali’s fight against Brian London at Earl’s Court in 1966 and numerous outstanding portraits of aspiring black models used on the magazine’s covers.
Autograph ABP in London curated a very important exhibition on the photographer’s work in 2010 entitled James Barnor: Ever Young, which has been touring internationally, and which culminated in a book published by éditions Clémentine de la Féronnière in 2015.
For the last three years, James Barnor has been working with galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière in Paris in organizing his archives and negatives: scanning, cataloguing and captioning. The recording of stories, of history, for the future generations is the photographer’s main focus.
Cité internationale des arts have been a strong partner in this process, hosting James Barnor in residence four times in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In discussion with James Barnor: Riason Naidoo (South Africa), recipient of the Writing Committee of the Cité internationale des arts.