James BarnorHonFRPS (born 6 June 1929)[2] is a Ghanaian photographer who has been based in London since the 1990s. His career spans six decades, and although for much of that period his work was not widely known, it has latterly been discovered by new audiences. In his street and studio photography, Barnor represents societies in transition in the 1950s and 1960s: Ghana moving toward independence, and London becoming a multicultural metropolis.[3] He has said: "I was lucky to be alive when things were happening...when Ghana was going to be independent and Ghana became independent, and when I came to England the Beatles were around. Things were happening in the 60s, so I call myself Lucky Jim."[4] He was Ghana's first full-time newspaper photographer in the 1950s, and he is credited with introducing colour processing to Ghana in the 1970s.[5][6] It has been said: "James Barnor is to Ghana and photojournalism what Ousmane Sembène was to Senegal and African cinema."[7]
James Barnor
Eva, London 1960s
Barnor's photographs are represented in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate and Government Art Collection in Britain, as well as in numerous international private collections.[50]
It has been said of him: "Photographer James Barnor is to decolonizing Ghana (and later to 1960s black Britain) what Oumar Ly is to Senegal or Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita were to Mali."[86]
In 2011, Barnor was honoured with a GUBA (Ghana UK-Based Achievement)[87] special "Lifetime Achievement" award. On receiving it, he revealed that it was the first award he had ever been given.[88]
In October 2016, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Ghana, Barnor was awarded the Order of the Volta, conferred by President John Dramani Mahama at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony held at Accra International Conference Centre.[89][90]
Barnor was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2020.
Source : Wikipedia , Tate.co.za