The Wick List

Viewing James Barnor: Accra/London – A Retrospective, Serpentine Galleries

Serpentine’s North Gallery has just the thing for photography lovers — the largest survey to date of the pioneering Ghanaian-British photographer James Barnor.

Barnor’s work, which includes studio portraiture, photojournalism, and editorial and lifestyle commissions, covers everything from social and political changes in Accra and London to domestic scenes of family life. There is, however, a thread that connects his work across six decades: the indelible connection with his sitters.

Organised in broadly chronological order, this exhibition centres on the years between 1950 and 1980. Portraits taken at Barnor’s first studio, Ever Young, are shown alongside his era-defining work for South African anti-apartheid publication Drum. Also on display are wonderful works depicting London life in the Swinging Sixties and images from his time managing the first colour-processing laboratory in 1970s Ghana.

‘James Barnor’s work reminds us how thrillingly expansive life is,’ says Hans Ulrich Obrist. ‘His photographs offer the possibility of connection and exchange across continents and through time.’

Share story
Dates
19 May 2021 — 24 October 2021
Further information
READ MORE
The Wick - Rebecca Manson, Cabbage, 2024
Courtesy of Josh Lilley
The Wick List

Viewing  Nature reimagined by Rebecca Manson at Josh Lilley

The Wick - Aimée Parrott 
Mouthing Streams, 2023
Courtesy of the artist and Lyndsey Ingram.
The Wick List

Viewing Three artists make the line come alive at Lyndsey Ingram

The Wick - Janine Antoni, 2038 (2000). © Janine Antoni
The Wick List

Viewing The magic and mess of motherhood at the Arnolfini

The Wick - Artwork by and copyright of Antoine Wagner. Photographed by Deniz Güzel. Courtesy of Tristan Hoare Gallery.
The Wick List

Viewing  Antoine Wagner’s cinematic tribute to music and opera

The Wick - David Brian Smith, A bit more somewhere
Courtesy of Phillips
The Wick List

Viewing  Seeing Red: a pulse-quickening show at Phillips

The Wick - Laura Footes
The Therapist, 2022
Courtesy of Tracey Emin Foundation.
The Wick List

Viewing  Tracey Emin’s ode to the sleepless in Margate