James Barnor: Transmissions

James Barnor: Transmissions
01 December 2024 – 19 January 2025

Dunkers Culture House, Kristianstad Art Gallery/Regional Museum Kristianstad and Ystads
art museum that shows works behind glass windows at Bollen, Jennygatan 6, Ystad.

Black Archives Sweden is pleased to present James Barnor: Transmissions, a
exhibition on display in the public space celebrating Ghanaian photographer James
Children's pioneering work. The exhibition is the first large-scale presentation of
Barnor's extensive photographic archive in Sweden. The exhibition spreads over several locations in
Skåne and emphasizes Barnor's influential role in capturing emerging narratives from it
the African continent and the Black diaspora. Makda Embaie's newly written poem "I remember".
er alla" is inspired by Barnor's photographs and follows the exhibition through Scania.

The exhibition is based on Black Archives Sweden's collection Familjearkivet, which is focused on
to preserve diaspora life through experimentation, care and collective activation. The family archive
draws attention to aspects of Black history and present that are often overlooked by public archives.
James Barnor's career spans six decades and his photographs provide an important
insight into the extensive social changes during the post-war period. Children were born in 1929 and
became Ghana's first newspaper photographer, documenting the country's political and social
changes before independence.

In 1959 he moved to London, where he captured the dynamic lives and cultures that
people of African descent created in Britain. His photographs were published in
Drum, a Black lifestyle magazine founded in South Africa in 1951, played a
crucial role in the anti-apartheid movement. His photographs from that time provide a rare insight
in both mundane and notable aspects of life in the diaspora, creating a
invaluable visual documentation of the shifting identities of various Africans
community groups.

Through his lens, Barnor has recorded societies in change, and his work remains one
powerful archive of postcolonial histories. Barnor is more than a photographer, he is one
storyteller who engages the audience with reflections on identity, migration and
belonging in a world that is becoming increasingly intertwined. In recent years, his work has
received considerable international recognition for its thought-provoking portrayal of a critical time
during the 20th century.

James Barnor: Transmissions invites viewers to explore his incredible journey and delve deeper
itself in the complex story of life in the Black diaspora, and offers a perspective
on modern history that has often been overlooked.

Curators: Tawanda Appiah and Ulrika Flink
Exhibition producers: Jonelle Twum, Susannah Young, Marika Reuterswärd and Ellen
Klintenberg
Communication: Zawadi Odenyo, Therese Vorbau, Johanna Theander/Jennie Lindholm, Isac
Nordgren Jonasson
Graphic design: Lina Forsgren
Web developer: Oliver Manzi
Poem: “I remember you all” by Makda Embaie

The exhibition is a collaboration between Black Archives Sweden, Dunkers Culture House,
Kristianstad Art Gallery/Regional Museum Kristianstad and Ystad Art Museum.
The exhibition can be seen at Dunker's cultural center, Kristianstad's art gallery/Regional museum
Kristianstad and Bollen (Jennygatan 6, Ystad).

Carried out with the support of Region Skåne and the Culture Council.
© James Barnor / Courtesy of Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris