A major solo exhibition of work by the Ghanaian photographer James Barnor, who opened his portraiture studio, Ever Young, in Accra in 1949. During the 1950's, like his contemporaries Seydou Keita in Mali and Salla Casset in Senegal, he captured both the likenesses and aspirations of citizens of a new nation making the transition to independence.

Barnor became a staff photographer for the Daily Graphic newspaper, and later, in 1959, moved to the United Kingdom, where he undertook assignments for DRUM Magazine, largely in the arena of fashion. The DRUM franchise not only spread throughout the African continent, but the magazine and its readership were also part of the rise of ‘Black London’.

Ever Young: James Barnor was researched and curated by Autograph ABP, an agency and archive dedicated to the promotion of culturally diverse photography in London.

Photo: James Barnor. Drum Cover Girl Marie Hallowi, Kent (1966). Courtesy of Autograph ABP/James Barnor