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Eric Gyamfi

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Eric Gyamfi
Born1990 (age 34–35)
Alma materUniversity of Ghana
Known forPhotography
AwardsFoam Paul Huf Award
2019 Fixing Shadows; Julius and I

Eric Gyamfi (born 1990)[1] is a Ghanaian photographer, living in Accra[2] and has held exhibitions in Mampɔn Akuapem, London, Amsterdam, Accra, Vienna, Bamako, Berlin, Tamale, New York, Cape Town and Bamako.

Gyamfi’s practice moves across a range of subjects, from exploring queerness in his home country to investigating how queerness might be embedded within the photographic medium itself[3]. His recent work turns to a variety of materials and processes—often drawing from phytochemistry and low-tech, elemental approaches—to rethink how images are formed, sensed, or registered[4][5]

Early life and education

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Gyamfi 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)[6]. 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 Veteran Ghanaian Photographer Francis Nii Obodai Provençal[5]. He also participated in the Nuku Studio Photography Workshops (2016) and World Press Photo West African Master Class (2017), both in Accra.[7]

Life and work

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The series Just Like Us documents queer individuals and communities in Ghana, "to show queer people exist and that they are like anyone else"[8] 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."[9] His work has been featured in A Diagnosis of Time: Unlearn What You Have Learned (Red Clay Studio, Tamale, Ghana 2021)[10], Ecologies and Politics of the Living (Vienna Biennale, 2021)[11], The 11th and 12th Bamako Encounters (Musée National du Mali/Mémorial Modibo Kéita, 2017/2019)[12][13], Fixing Shadows: Julius and I (FOAM, 2019/2020, Autograph, 2023)[6], the 74th Berlinale International Film Festival (Forum Expanded, Betonhalle, Silent Green, Arsenal —Institute for Film and Video Art– 1& 2, 2024)[14], The New York African Film Festival (Brooklyn Academy of Music 2023, The Africa Center 2024)[15], Punya 2.0 (Kunsthallbern, Switzerland, 2024), Kɔηsεt Pāti (Accra, Ghana, 2025) and others[16]

Exhibitions

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Solo exhibitions

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Group exhibitions

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  • 2016, “Asylum”, Lagos Photo, Lagos, Nigeria[22]
  • 2016, “Witches of Gambaga”, San Jose Foto Festival, San Jose, Uruguay[23]
  • 2018, “Just Like Us; Drama Queens”, Nubuke foundation/Gallery, Accra, Ghana[24].
  • 2018, “Just Like Us”, Africa state of mind, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK[25]
  • 2019, “A Certain Bed”, Foam Talent, Beaconsfield Gallery, London, UK[26]
  • 2019, “ Just Like Us”, Africa State of Mind, Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK[27]
  • 2019, “A Certain Bed”, Foam Talent, The Cube, Eschborn- Frankfurt, DE[28]
  • 2019, “Fixing Shadows: Julius and I”, 12th Bamako encounters, bamako, ML[6]
  • 2020, “Just Like Us”, African Cosmologies; Photography, Time and the Other, fotoFest Biennale, Texas, USA[29]
  • 2021, “Trade winds and Shadow objects; North by South East”, A Diagnosis of Time; Unlearn What You Have Learned, Redclay Studio, Tamale, GH [30]
  • 2022, “Teak Atlas: From Where do we begin” Tracing Emerging Ecologies, Tamale[31]
  • 2022, “TeakAtlas: FromWheredowebegin”ADifferentNowIsCloseEnoughToExhaleOnYou, Capetown, SA[32]
  • 2023, “What’chu Looking at? Who you Speaking with?”: A Gazing all round, Valleta, Malta[33]
  • 2023, “Teak Atlas: From where do we begin” Ecologies of Elsewhere, Contemporary art Center, Cincinnati, US [34]
  • 2023, “Teak Atlas: From Where Do we Begin”, Worldmaking, Mitchelle-Innes & Nash Gallery, New York, USA [35]
  • 2023, “Certain Winds From The South”, African Film Festival, New York, USA [36]
  • 2023, “Certain Winds From The South”, Nuku Studio, Tamale GH [37]
  • 2023, “Certain Winds From the South” Savannah Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Tamale, GH [38]
  • 2023, “Teak Atlas: The Situation in Ljubljana”, 35th Ljubljana Biennale for Graphic Arts, Ljubljan [39]
  • 2024, “Certain Winds From The South”, Pa Gya literary Festival, FCA, Accra, GH
  • 2024, “Certain Winds From The South”, New York African Film Festival, New York, USA [40]
  • 2024, “ Wandering through Bern on a new day” Punya 2.0, Kunsthallbern, Switzerland, CH [41]
  • 2024, “Certain Winds From The South”, 74 Berlinale, Forum Expanded, Germany, DE [42]
  • 2025, “Certain Winds From The South, “Kɔηsεt Pāti” Accra, GH[43]

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "Eric Gyamfi - Biography". Olym Collection. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  2. ^ "Aperture 227". Aperture. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  3. ^ "Eric Gyamfi in Conversation with Lyle Ashton Harris". Magnum Foundation. 2024-11-15. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  4. ^ "Eric Gyamfi: Fixing Shadows – Julius and I | Exhibition 28 Apr - 2 Sep 2023 | Autograph London". autograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  5. ^ a b "Eric Gyamfi". nataal.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  6. ^ a b c "Eric Gyamfi: Fixing Shadows – Julius and I | Exhibition 28 Apr - 2 Sep 2023 | Autograph London". autograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  7. ^ "Eric Gyamfi in Conversation with Lyle Ashton Harris". Magnum Foundation. 2024-11-15. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ world, STIR. "Climate care and planet love inform the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021". www.stirworld.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  12. ^ "12th Bamako Encounters: Streams of Consciousness". artreview.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  13. ^ "Gyamfi, Eric | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  14. ^ "| Berlinale | Archive | News & Topics | Berlinale Topics". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  15. ^ "The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  16. ^ "Punya 2.0". Kunsthalle Bern (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  17. ^ "See Me See You — Nubuke Foundation". nubukefoundation.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  18. ^ Times, The Rustin (2017-09-22). "Goethe-Institut Johannesburg Presents "Just Like Us: Constellations" by Eric Gyamfi". The Rustin Times. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  19. ^ "Foam Paul Huf Award winner 2019: Eric Gyamfi | Now at Foam". www.foam.org. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  20. ^ "Eric Gyamfi: The Things That Are Left, Hanging In The Air Like A Rumor". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  21. ^ "Eric Gyamfi: Fixing Shadows – Julius and I | Exhibition 28 Apr - 2 Sep 2023 | Autograph London". autograph.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  22. ^ "'Rituals and Performance' LagosPhoto Festival 2016 in Nigeria". Contemporary And (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  23. ^ Gianzo, Jaime Fernández (2016-02-12). "Eric Gyamfi: Tradición e identidad · Wiriko". Wiriko (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  24. ^ Ranganathan, Deepa (2018-08-17). "When you wanna be a Drama Queen!". FRIDA | Young Feminist Fund. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  25. ^ "Africa State of Mind". New Art Exchange | NAE. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  26. ^ beaconsfield (2019-05-08). "FOAM TALENT | LONDON 2019 - Beaconsfield". Beaconsfield -. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  27. ^ "Africa State of Mind". Impressions. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  28. ^ "Foam Talent exhibition at Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Frankfurt". www.foam.org. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  29. ^ "FotoFest Biennial 2020 – Home – FotoFest". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ "Tracing Emerging Ecologies". Nuku Studio. 2022-11-12. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  32. ^ "A Different Now is Close Enough to Exhale on You - Goodman Gallery Johannesburg - Viewing Room - Goodman Gallery". goodman-viewingroom.exhibit-e.art. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  33. ^ ""WHAT'CHU LOOKING AT? WHO YOU SPEAKING WITH?" A GAZING ALL ROUND". Fondazzjoni Kreattività. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  34. ^ "Ecologies of Elsewhere | February 10, 2023 | Contemporary Arts Center". www.contemporaryartscenter.org. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  35. ^ "Worldmaking - Co-curated by Gideon Appah & Ylinka Barotto - Exhibitions - Mitchell-Innes & Nash". www.miandn.com. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  36. ^ "Certain Winds from the South | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  37. ^ ""Certain Winds from the South": film by Eric Gyamfi screening at Nuku Studio in Tamale". Nuku Studio. 2023-08-18. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  38. ^ "SCCA Tamale". SCCA TAMALE. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  39. ^ "Eric Gyamfi • 35 GB". 35.bienale.si. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  40. ^ "Certain Winds from the South | African Film Festival, Inc". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  41. ^ "Punya 2.0". Kunsthalle Bern. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  42. ^ "| Berlinale | Archive | Programme | Programme". www.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  43. ^ "Kɔηsεt Pāti: A Playful Reinterpretation of Moving Image Through the Lens of Movement and Migration". guestartist. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  44. ^ Naughton, Jake (4 April 2017). "Photos That Celebrate Ghana's L.G.B.T. Community". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  45. ^ "Time Exclusive: Magnum Emergency Fund Announces 2016 Grantees". Time. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
  46. ^ Smyth, Diane. "Eric Gyamfi wins the Foam Paul Huf Award". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 2023-04-14.
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