Cyber Café - 2000

240 X 270 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Manhattan - 1996

240 x 270 cm
Original background on canvas

Monaco Monte-Carlo - 2005

264 x 297 cm
Original background on canvas

No Place Like Home - 1996

30.7 X 44 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Picking melons - 1998

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

White house - 1998

240 X 270 cm
Chromogenic photograph

- 2002

Akwaba - 1996

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Akwaba - 1996

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

At the Airport - 1996

30.7 X 44 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Background : Accra International Airport – Daniel A. Jasper in collaboration with Philip Kwame Apagya - 1999

343 x 248.5 cm
Original background on canvas

Come On Board ! - 2000

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Cyber Café - 2000

240 X 270 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Manhattan - 1996

240 x 270 cm
Original background on canvas

Monaco Monte-Carlo - 2005

264 x 297 cm
Original background on canvas

No Place Like Home - 1996

30.7 X 44 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Picking melons - 1998

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

White house - 1998

240 X 270 cm
Chromogenic photograph

- 2002

Akwaba - 1996

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Akwaba - 1996

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

At the Airport - 1996

30.7 X 44 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Background : Accra International Airport – Daniel A. Jasper in collaboration with Philip Kwame Apagya - 1999

343 x 248.5 cm
Original background on canvas

Come On Board ! - 2000

70 X 50 cm
Chromogenic photograph

Philip Kwame Apagya

Born 1958, Sekondi, Ghana

Lives and works in Shama, Ghana

Philip Kwame Apagya amuses himself with the attributes of the consumer society, and isn’t ashamed to be a merchant of illusion. He belongs to the tradition of studio portraitists who chronicled the local population in the twentieth century throughout West Africa. After 1970, the popularity of inexpensive cameras, colour photography, and fast printing increasingly imperilled these black-and-white studios. However, Apagya was able to make his father’s studio prosper by switching to colour and by converting the banality of typical studio settings through exotic backdrops. His contemporary interiors are replete with the furnishings of consumer culture (refrigerators, TVs, hi-fi stereos, telephones), while his exterior decors could frame an opulent villa, an airport, or even Manhattan. The resulting photographs transport his clientele into the idealized universe of advertisements. While his customers pose only briefly in front of these fanciful decorations, the resulting photographs offer a permanent record of their hopes and aspirations.

Depending on the fashion, the fads, the dreams, or wishes of his clientele, Apagya renews his painted scenarios every year, commissioning local painter Daniel A. Jasper to create ever fresher fantasies. He even gives those who dream of the Internet the chance to be photographed in a synthetic cybercafé. Apagya has stated: “A picture may speak the truth, but one cannot see the truth. However, truth is not my major concern. I am more interested in creating prestige, fantasy and beauty. . . . My pictures are more like proverbs or palm nuts, things to break up, something in which the meaning can only be unplugged if you know how to look at them. Photography has a lot in common with magic.”

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2005

13 Jan – 19 Feb

Philip Kwame Apagya

Rena Bransten Gallery

San Francisco - USA

2004

Philip Kwame Apagya – Recent Photographs

Jack Shainman Gallery

New York - USA

2003

Philip Kwame Apagya

Galerie Stähli

Zurich - Switzerland

2002

Berlin Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya

Jointly organized by the Goethe Institute, Accra and the Ghana National Museum,

Accra - Ghana

2002

Philip Kwame Apagya.

Alliance Francaise

Bahia - Bresil

2002

Welcome - Philip Kwame Apagya

Galerie Schuebbe

Düsseldorf - Germany

2002

Apagya Portraits

Iwalewa-Haus

Bayreuth - Germany

2001 – 2002

Philip Kawma Apagya: Photographer of imagined worlds

gemeentemuseum, The Hague

2000

Studio Apagya.

Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC), during the 50th International

Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France (May).

2000

Philip Kwame Apagya. Portraits.

Gallery Forma Libera, Torino, Italy (February-March 2000).

2000

Philip Kwame Apagya.

Disegni Animati.

Gallery Louisa delle Piane, Milano, Italy (February).

1999

Fiesta du Sud

Marseille (October 1999).

1999

Swedish Photo Fair.

Göteborg, Sweden (October 1999).

1999

Festival des trois continents

Nantes, France (November 1999).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014

Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

2013

Studio la Città: Some views of Africa

2012

"Images", Festival des Arts Visuels de Vevey, Switzerland

2011

Chaos as usual, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway

Place of Honour for Africa, Paris Photo, Paris

Breaking News : Fotografia contemporanea da Medio Oriente e Africa, Ex Ospedale Sant’Agostino, Modena, Italy

2008

Fifty One Celebrates Eight Years, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp

2007

Manifest

Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Colorado

Colorado Springs, USA

2006

The Whole World is Rotten

The Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH Joint Venture, Pence Gallery, Davis

CA - USA

2005

Earth and Memory: African and African-American Photograph

Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery

Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC - USA

2005

Arts of Africa

Grimaldi Forum

Monaco - France

2005

African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Museum of Fine Art Houston

Houston - USA

2003 - 2004

The Office

The Photographers Gallery

London – UK

2003

The Public View

Pentagram

London – UK

2003

In faccia al mondo.

Il ritratto contemporaneao nel medium fotografico

Museo d’arte contemporaneo di Villa Croce

Genova - Italy

2003

Les Ateliers des désirs

Philip Kwame Apagya, Seydou Keïta & Malick Sidibé

Centre Culturel Français Freiburg

Freiburg - Germany

2002 - 2003

Afrikanische Reklamekunst: Try me !

Iwalewa Haus der Universität Bayreuth

Bayreuth – Germany

München Stadtmuseum

Munich - Germany

2002

No Border

Museo della città di Ravenna

2002

IbridAAfricA, hybrid Africa

Cagliari Lazzaretto Sant’Elia

2002

Flash Afrique.

Kunstforum Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.

2001 – 2002

Het bloeiende kunstleven van Ghana [Ghanaian Arts-Alive and Well]

Haags Gemeentemuseum

The Hague, The Netherlands

2001

Abbild/Depiction.

Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria. October/November 2001

2001

The Vibrant Art of Ghana.

Den Haag, The Netherlands, September 2001 - January 2002.

2001

The Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color photography award winners 2000

Boston University, MA, USA (September).

2001

Flash Afrique.

Kunsthalle Wien, Austria (September/October).

2000

Africainside.

Fries Museum, Noorderlicht-Festival, The Netherlands (September).

2000/1

Snap me one! Studio Photographers in Africa.

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (June 1 - February 15, 2001).

2000

African Photographers.

51 art gallery - Roger Smulewizc, Antwerp, Belgium (September-October).

2000

Villes africaines.

Lille, France (September).

2000

Expressions africaines.

Maison International, Rennes France (February).

2000

Portrait Africa.

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany (January-March 2000).

1999

Fiera di Venezia (Alliance Francaise, Venice, Italy, September 1999).

1999

"Retour de Bamako"

Galleries FNAC, Paris, France (March-April 1999), FNAC, Barcelona,

Spain.(June-July 1999).

1999

"Magazin Photo Night"

Organized by the journal "Der Tagesanzeiger", Xtra-Limmat-Haus, Zürich,

Switzerland. (March 1999).

1999

"Snap me one! Studio Photographers in Africa".

City Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (January - April 1999) and

Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth, Germany (June 1999 - August 1999).

1999

"Africa by Africa. A photographic View".

Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK. (January -March1999).

1998

"3émes Rencontres de la photographie africaine".

Bamako, Mali.(December 1998).

1998

"Snap me one! Studio Photographers in Africa".

City Museum in Munich, Germany.

1997

The Face of Africa".

Hamburg, Germany, press house of Geo magazine.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2015

Angier, Roswell, Train Your Gaze: A practical and theoretical introduction to portrait photography, Second Edition, Bloomsbury Publishing, pg 157

2005

African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell.

2002

Afrikanische Reklamekunst

Exhibition catalogue by Tobias Wendle. Published by Peter Hammer.

2002

NoBorder

Exhibition catalogue. Museo della citta die Ravenna, Rom.

2002

ibridAAfricA, Africa hybrid

Exhibition catalogue. Cagliari Lazzaretto Sant’Elia, Rom, Gangemi Edition

2001

Abbild. Recent Portraiture and Depiction

Exhibition catalogue. Steirischer Herbst 2001. Wien/New York: Springer.

2001

Flash Afrique, Fotografie aus Westafrika

Exhibition catalogue. Published by Steidl.

2000

Africaninside.

Exhibition catalogue. Groningen: Noorderlicht.

2000

Porträt Afrika. Photographische Positionen eines Jahrunderts

Exhibition catalogue. Berlin: Haus des Kulturen der Welt

1998

Snap me One ! Studiofotografen in Afrika

Exhibition catalogue. Published by Prestel

1998

Anthologie de la Photographie africaine et l’Océan Indien

Edited by Revue Noir. Pg 109