Spotlight on Ghanaian photographer Gerald Annan-Forson

When Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Ghana on an official visit in 1999, the British High Commission called in Gerald Annan-Forson for a private photo session with the monarch. A few years earlier, Annan-Forson had made a habit of standing in front of Buckingham Palace with the dream of one day taking pictures of the Queen or the royal family. The commission’s request was surprising.

“I said, ‘Well, wait a minute. He’s coming with all these reporters. Why me?'” he recounted, talking to ARTnews In a recent interview from Accra, the capital of the West African country. “They said, ‘Well, we’ve been watching you. We picked you from within Ghana.’

His selection speaks to the “significant role” he played in capturing Ghana, particularly Accra, as the center of many global artistic and political changes, said Jesse Weaver Shipley, professor of African and African American studies at Dartmouth College.

Shipley and Annan-Forson first met in 2017 when former Ghanaian President Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings spoke glowingly of the artist’s images taken in Ghana in the 1970s and 80s. After seeing Annan-Forson’s “incredible collection of images”, Shipley wondered why the artist and his work had not received the recognition they deserved.

Now, Annan-Forson’s first retrospective is coming to the States in 2022 after a run in collaboration with the Sharjah Art Foundation’s African Institute. Curated by Shipley, the show focuses on Ghana in the 20th century. century Opened earlier this month, the exhibit is currently on view at the Howard University Museum in Washington, DC, where it is presented by the school’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

“His brilliance as a photographer is finding subtle, intimate moments in the midst of everyday life,” Shipley said. “His work crosses genres. It tells a story about how images do not speak in a particular way, images are always multiple. They are always telling several stories at the same time.’

One of the highlights of the show is an image of a group of people celebrating Ramadan in 1980 with two friends riding horses in Accra Central, near a place called Glamour, which no longer exists when the photo was taken. Annan-Forson reports on the idea of ​​capturing life as it happens, knowing that “if you don’t document them, they disappear. And once it’s gone, you probably won’t be able to get it again,” he said.

Another highlight of the exhibit is an image from September 24, 1979, showing Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, after stepping down from his position, as newly elected Democratic President Hilla Limann inaugurates Ghana’s Third Republic. On December 31, 1981, Rawlings overthrew Limann, taking power for the second time as military leader.

“[Annan-Forson captured] Those extraordinary moments of foreboding,” Shipley said. “[That were] He knew how that history would go, and he didn’t even know. That’s what a great artist can do.”

Annan-Forson spoke more modestly about these images, saying: “I tried to capture moments, but not the usual thing that everyone does, like a handshake.”

A former Achimota College classmate, friend and freelance professional photographer, Annan-Forson had access to Rawlings and his family as a military leader and later as a democratically elected president. Annan-Forson was invited to family events, including dinner, and had the family photographed at her home. But where was he, recalled Annan-Forson, the soldiers around Rawlings called “Mr. Lehendakari”.

“When he was in the military, there was a fear of not getting it right because there was no way to go back and tell the AFRC president. [Armed Forces Revolutionary Council], ‘Hey, this was a rehearsal, can we do it again?’ You have to make sure you get it right,” Annan-Forson recalled. “But she was much more relaxed about him being a civilian.”

Some called Annan-Forson “Jerry,” a shortened version of his first name, Gerald, a name Rawlings himself used. As a result, Annan-Forson recalled that in assignments she was sometimes presented as an “arrest” of Rawlings at public events. Sometimes this was fun for Annan-Forson. At other times, he found it terrifying. He was only there as a photographer, after all.

Those weren’t the only scary moments: under the command of military general Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, Annan-Forson was picked up and interrogated by military police, suspected of using a Bazooka due to the length of the lens. Annan-Forson learned that he was being monitored by the government in the late 1970s, claiming to be a CIA agent who had learned to speak the Ghanaian language. He told himself that every time he was photographed during the tenure of the military government, there was no guarantee that he would return home.

Annan-Forson was born in London in 1947 to a Ghanaian father and a British Irish mother. In 1976, he became a professional freelance photographer in London and moved to Accra later that year. In Ghana, he noticed a lot of negative coverage about the country and its capital, and was determined to provide more positive images of them.

Unlike other photographers of his time, who used camera cases, Annan-Forson used 35mm film, carrying more than one camera at a time. This meant that he could take many more shots compared to his colleagues.

He wanted to capture Ghana, especially its culture, its people, how the market women dressed and the festivals that took place there. After filming the local scene, he moved on to work on commission for international magazines, and then obtained a press card from the Ministry of Information in 1977, giving him access to areas that required press accreditation. Filmed photos were seen abroad and in Ghana; some were also exhibited at the Ghana Arts Council in Accra in 1980.

In 1987, he became a founding member of the Ghana Professional Photographers Union, which supports young emerging photographers and builds networks and resources to raise the profile of professional photography in the country. He has since retired from freelance photography and teaching, and now works from a studio in Accra.

Shipley, who is an artist and curator in addition to being an academic, has made a short documentary about Annan-Forson, which is currently on view in the exhibition “Routes of Rebellion” at the Nuku Studio Center for Photographic Research and Practice and Red Clay. Studio, both in Tamale. The title Burnt Images, the documentary examines Annan-Forson’s life and work and considers photography as a way to combat racial prejudice. It also examines some of the work done in the US presentation.

Shipley says her practice as an artist, which includes bringing Annan-Forson’s work to Sharjah, the United States, and her Tamale show, is “somehow creating conversations.” [and] new forms of communication”.

It’s a long way from when Annan-Forson’s Howard show started, at a time when his work was hard to get into print. He said he never thought about “getting credit or otherwise getting money” for his work, but he’s happy with where things have landed.

He went on to say that he hoped his photos would be “used for education or research.” With the Howard show, this is no longer a dream.

“I think there will be a lot of interest in the images in this exhibit,” said Benjamin Talton, professor of history at Howard and director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. “Students will learn a lot from it.”