Ever Young by James Barnor

7 September 2011-29 January 2012. After being displayed at the Rivington Place of London in 2010, this exhibition, entitled Ever Young, after the name of the photographic studio opened in the 1950s by the Ghanaian photographer, studio portraitist and photojournalist James Barnor, travels to the Iziko South African National Gallery.

On display is a new body of work, made of street and studio photographs and fashion portraits, created between the 1940s and 1970s, as well as social documentaries, many of which were commissioned to Barnor by the DRUM magazine, whose readership was part of the rise of Black London.

Over his 60-year career Barnor created a transatlantic narrative, characterized by his interest for people and cultures. His portraitures focus on different continents and photographic genres.

His works immortalize societies in transition, such as Ghana moving towards its independence and London becoming a cosmopolitan, multicultural metropolis. Among the others Barnor portrayed Kwame Nkrumah, luminary of the pan-Arican unity, the boxing champions Mohammad Ali and Roy Ankrah as well as ordinary people.