October Gallery will host a special conversation with internationally acclaimed photographer James Barnor on Saturday 25 July, offering audiences a rare opportunity to hear directly from one of the most influential figures in African photography.
The event, James Barnor in Conversation with Eleri Fanshawe, will take place at 3pm, with tickets priced at £10. Barnor will be joined by curator Eleri Fanshawe to reflect on a remarkable career spanning more than six decades, from his early work in Ghana to his celebrated photographs of London in the 1960s.
Barnor, who was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1929 and now lives in London, has worked as a studio portraitist, photojournalist and pioneering Black lifestyle photographer. His images have documented major social, cultural and political changes in both Ghana and the UK, capturing moments of confidence, style and transformation across generations.
He opened his first studio in Accra in 1953, attracting members of the public as well as local VIPs and dignitaries. He went on to work as the first photojournalist for the Daily Graphic, before building an important relationship with South Africa’s Drum magazine, the influential anti-apartheid lifestyle and politics journal.
After moving to the UK in 1959, Barnor studied photography at Medway College of Art while continuing to work on commissions for Drum in London, photographing models of all nationalities for the magazine’s covers. He returned to Ghana in 1969 as a representative for Agfa-Gevaert, helping to pioneer colour photographic processing, before returning to London in the 1980s.
Barnor’s photographs are now recognised as an unparalleled record of newly independent Ghana and London’s “Swinging Sixties”. His portraits capture the self-assurance, fashion and individuality that flourished in both Accra and London, offering a powerful visual history of African and diasporic life.
Although international recognition came later in his career, Barnor’s work has since been exhibited widely. Between 2010 and 2016, his major touring exhibition Ever Young, with Autograph ABP, travelled across the UK and USA, featuring new prints made from original digitally preserved negatives alongside vintage photographs from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.
October Gallery first showed Barnor’s work in 2016 alongside Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of the Volta by President John Mahama in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of Ghana. A retrospective of his work opened at the Nubuke Foundation in Accra in 2019, and in 2020 he received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society.
The October Gallery talk will explore the stories behind Barnor’s images and offer collectors, photography enthusiasts and visitors a deeper insight into his artistic vision and enduring legacy.
The talk will take place on the ground floor of the gallery and has disabled access.
Tickets are available via Eventbrite.
Listing Information
Event: Gallery Talk: James Barnor in Conversation with Eleri Fanshawe
Date: Saturday 25 July
Time: 3pm
Tickets: £10
Venue: October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AL
Website: www.octobergallery.co.uk