By Iminza Keboge
Published July 14, 2016
A photographic exhibition of fashion subcultures across contemporary sub-Saharan Africa and London’s growing multicultural metropolis during the swinging 1960s and Ghana in the 1950s comes to the English capital in September 2016.
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The show, which follows the 2015 publication of the book, Ever Young, by James Barnor, and the recent book launch of Fashion Tribes by Daniele Tamagni shall throughout September display the work of pioneering Ghanaian photographer, James Barnor, and award-winning Italian photographer, Daniele Tamagni, in October Gallery, September 8-30, 2016.
James Barnor, born in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, in 1929, began by setting up a studio which was visited by the general public as well as dignitaries. He developed his career rapidly, by working for the Daily Graphic, as their first photojournalist, and Drum magazine, the then influential anti-Apartheid journal for lifestyle and politics.
After moving to Britain in 1959, Barnor continued to work on commissions for Drum, in London, shooting international models for its covers. His portraits depict the self-assurance and individualistic fashion trends that dominated at the time.
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James Barnor’s imagery captures the style that shaped the identity of Londoners during the 1960s.
Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni–who shines light on the renaissance happening in developing economies and the power of fashion to push economic and cultural boundaries today–trained as an art historian before travelling worldwide to document fashion subcultures in locations outside of the presumed fashion contexts such Brazzaville (Congo-Brazzaville), Johannesburg (South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya) and Dakar (Senegal), Tamagni seeks and finds individualistic identity.
Daniele Tamagni won the Canon Young Photographer Award with a project about the Congolese dandies, Sapeurs of Brazzaville, in 2007. Three years later, in 2010, won the ICP, Infinity Award, fashion category.
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Tamagni’s subjects are reflective of Barnor’s models of the 1960s with fashion aiding their nonchalant confidence.
The Daniele Tamagni and James Barnor exhibition shall be open Tuesday-Saturday, 12:30-5:30PM. There is no entry fee to the gallery located on 24 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AL. While Holborn/Russell Square has the nearest tubes, art lovers can also reach October Gallery via bus numbers 19, 25, 38, 55, 168 and 188.
