This book aims to shed light—through a corpus of images taken between the 1950s and 1980s in both England and Ghana—on the work of a photographer who documented the transformations of two societies during his time. With a foreword by photography historian Damarice Amao, the volume offers a comprehensive exploration of Barnor’s photographic oeuvre and provides insight into the concept of Afro-modernity.
Damarice Amao, who holds a PhD in art history, is an assistant curator in the Photography Department at the MNAM–Centre Pompidou. She co-curated the exhibitions "Eli Lotar" (Jeu de Paume, 2017), "Photography: A Weapon of Class" (Centre Pompidou, 2018), and "Dora Maar" (2019), and co-edited the accompanying catalogues. In 2020, she was awarded the curatorial grant from the Rencontres d’Arles for her project "Ghana: Portraits. Documenting the Years of Independence". The Book: Portraiture and documentary photography are two central pillars of James Barnor’s work. This publication highlights these aspects, offering a fresh perspective on his contribution to visual culture and the evolving narratives of modernity in postcolonial contexts.
