James Barnor
b. 1929, Ghana
A Woman posing on James Barnor's car, Accra, c. 1970s
Cibachrome print
20x20cm
Edition of 5
Barnor returned to his native country, after moving to the United Kingdom, and turned his attention to photographing people on the streets – rather than in studios.
It appears from this image that by the 1970s Ghanian women were keen to sport natural hairdos. This could be seen as an influence of post-independence, but also ties in with black consciousness movements an expressions of it via hair in the US. Certainly, this image bears some resemblance to that Braithwaite took in the same era. In both images the women sit on the vehicles, a pose and setting which seems to communicate a sense of freedom, not only from the strictures of colonial rule, or white supremacism but greater freedom thought to be afforded to women, who could perceivably now be the ‘drivers’ of their own destinies.
It appears from this image that by the 1970s Ghanian women were keen to sport natural hairdos. This could be seen as an influence of post-independence, but also ties in with black consciousness movements an expressions of it via hair in the US. Certainly, this image bears some resemblance to that Braithwaite took in the same era. In both images the women sit on the vehicles, a pose and setting which seems to communicate a sense of freedom, not only from the strictures of colonial rule, or white supremacism but greater freedom thought to be afforded to women, who could perceivably now be the ‘drivers’ of their own destinies.