Biography
Gerald Annan-Forson is a photographer whose work explodes the simplistic facades of belonging, identity, and normalcy in the Ghanaian city of Accra. Focusing on subjects around the postcolonial African city, his images push the boundaries of documentary photography by focusing on unexpected moments that disturb the expectations of public life.
Annan-Forson taught photography at National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), and other institutions in Accra for over 20 years. He was a founding member of the Ghana Union of Professional Photographers (GUPP). His work on Ghana’s 1979 transition to democracy was shown at the Ghana Arts Council, Accra (1980). He also organised and curated a major photographic exhibition at Ghana International Trade Fair (1990). After retiring from teaching and official state work, he continues to work from his studio in Cantonments, Accra.
In Accra, in the 1970s, he began working as a freelance photographer for numerous European publications including West Africa Magazine, portraying life on the continent for international audiences.
Annan-Forson was thrown into the centre of the turmoil and political change of the era after a military coup d’état made his school mate Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council on 4 June 1979. He captured the many public and private faces of Rawlings who led Ghana as both radical military leader and later democratically elected president. Over 30 years, Annan-Forson maintained intimate access to key events in Ghana as a state photographer.
His images show the transformations of Ghanaian society during a turbulent era. He photographed numerous political ceremonies, revolutionary actions, coups, trials, funerals, as well as popular and traditional cultural events. In depicting spectacular social and political history, his candid lens captures the subjects in unexpected moments of contemplation, veiled frustration or quiet joy, daily activities and portraits of people from all walks of life.
Annan-Forson attended Achimota School in Accra. He began studying black and white photography with a box camera at AGFA Photographic Company in Adabraka, Accra. After moving to California, he bought his first camera in 1970 and developed his photographic style while studying Criminology at California State University, Fresno.
Born in 1947 in London, Annan-Forson currently lives and works in Accra.
