Eric Gyamfi (born 1990) is a Ghanaian photographer, living in Accra[1] and has held exhibitions in Mampɔn Akuapem, London, Amsterdam, Accra, Vienna, Berlin, Tamale, New York, Cape Town and Bamako.
Eric Gyamfi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1990 (age 35–36) |
| Alma mater | University of Ghana |
| Known for | Photography |
| Awards | Foam Paul Huf Award 2019 Fixing Shadows; Julius and I |
Gyamfi's work explores the poetics of queerness in his home country and within the photographic medium[2][3][4]
Early life and education
editGyamfi holds a B.A in Information studies with Economics from the University of Ghana (2010 to 2014) and an MFA from the Department of painting and sculpture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (2018- 2024).[3] Gyamfi was also a fellow at the Photographers’ Master Class (Khartoum, Sudan 2016 and Nairobi, Kenya 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa 2018), after a brief apprenticeship with Ghanaian photographer Francis Nii Obodai Provençal.[4] He also participated in the Nuku Studio Photography Workshops (2016) and World Press Photo West African Master Class (2017), both in Accra.[2]
Life and work
editThe series Just Like Us documents queer individuals and communities in Ghana, "to show queer people exist and that they are like anyone else." Made in black and white, the photographs as described by Ekow Eshun in The Guardian, are "an intimate evocation of everyday life, titled with studied plainness: Ama and Shana at lunch; Kwasi at Kokrobite beach; Atsu during dance; Kwasi in bed. When queerness is regarded as the opposite of normality, the answer, suggests Gyamfi, is to insist on the very ordinariness of the people being documented and in so doing declare them as individually complex as everyone else."[5][AI-retrieved source] His work has been featured in A Diagnosis of Time: Unlearn What You Have Learned (Red Clay Studio, Tamale, Ghana 2021),[6] Ecologies and Politics of the Living (Vienna Biennale, 2021),[7][AI-retrieved source] The 11th and 12th Bamako Encounters (Musée National du Mali/Mémorial Modibo Kéita, 2017/2019),[8][AI-retrieved source][9][AI-retrieved source] Fixing Shadows: Julius and I (FOAM, 2019/2020, Autograph, 2023),[3] the 74th Berlinale International Film Festival (Forum Expanded, Betonhalle, Silent Green, Arsenal —Institute for Film and Video Art– 1& 2, 2024),[10] The New York African Film Festival (Brooklyn Academy of Music 2023, The Africa Center 2024),[11][AI-retrieved source] Punya 2.0 (Kunsthallbern, Switzerland, 2024), Kɔηsεt Pāti (Accra, Ghana, 2025) and others[12]
Awards
edit- 2016: Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund grant, Magnum Photos for Just Like Us[13][14]
- 2019: Foam Paul Huf Award from Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, a £20,000 award, for all his work to date, including Fixing Shadows; Julius and I[15]
References
edit- ↑ "Eric Gyamfi - Biography". Retrieved 2023-04-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 1 2 "Eric Gyamfi in Conversation with Lyle Ashton Harris". Magnum Foundation. 2024-11-15. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- 1 2 3 "Eric Gyamfi: Fixing Shadows – Julius and I | Exhibition 28 Apr - 2 Sep 2023 | Autograph London". autograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- 1 2 "Eric Gyamfi". nataal.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Eshun, Ekow (2020-03-15). "'A queer person can be anybody': the African photographers exploring identity". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Article, Rebecca Anne Proctor ShareShare This (2021-09-20). "Beyond Amoako Boafo: The Next Emerging Names You Need to Know in Accra, Ghana's Rapidly Accelerating Art Hub". Artnet News. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ world, STIR. "Climate care and planet love inform the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021". www.stirworld.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "12th Bamako Encounters: Streams of Consciousness". artreview.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Gyamfi, Eric | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "| Berlinale | Archive | News & Topics | Berlinale Topics". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ "Punya 2.0". Kunsthalle Bern (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-15.
- ↑ Naughton, Jake (4 April 2017). "Photos That Celebrate Ghana's L.G.B.T. Community". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- ↑ "Time Exclusive: Magnum Emergency Fund Announces 2016 Grantees". Time. 23 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
- ↑ Smyth, Diane. "Eric Gyamfi wins the Foam Paul Huf Award". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 2023-04-14.