Stories: Pictures from the Archive

Stories offers a comprehensive insight into the multifaceted practice of Ghanaian photographer James Barnor, spanning four decades of profound political and cultural change.

Beginning with his “Ever Young” studio in Accra, founded in 1949, Barnor established himself as Ghana’s first press photographer and later introduced colour processing to West Africa.

The volume situates his work between Accra and London, tracing a trajectory from the late-colonial period through independence and into the ferment of “Swinging London” in the 1960s, before returning to a rapidly transforming post-colonial Ghana in the 1970s and 1980s. Barnor’s archive embraces a striking diversity of genres: studio portraits, photojournalism, and editorial commissions for international magazines and newspapers.

Far more than a retrospective survey, Stories underscores the critical role Barnor played in visualizing diasporic identities, modernity, and transnational exchange. It highlights both his technical innovations—such as pioneering the use of colour film in Ghana—and his ability to balance formal experimentation with acute social observation. In doing so, the book illuminates the enduring significance of Barnor’s photographic legacy within the broader history of twentieth-century art and visual culture.