Opening Reception:
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010, From 18:30-21:30
No. 7A Ninth Street, Tesano, Accra
The French Embassy in Ghana and Dei Centre for the Study of Contemporary African Art are pleased to present the book launches of: ‘Who Knows Tomorrow’ by Nii Obodai and Bruno Boudjelal & ‘Excessive Exposure’ by Lyle Ashton Harris’s
‘Who Knows Tomorrow’, published by Les Édition de l’OEil with support from the French Embassy in Ghana, is a collaboration between Nii Obodai and Bruno Boudjelal. The book, dedicated to Obodai’s father, Henry Sonny Provencal, the first mayor of Accra, is a photographic examination of the country’s enthralling urban and rural landscape.
The book Who Knows Tomorrow
The collective work of these two artists vividly portrays their experiences within the vibrant spaces of Ghana and at the same time illuminates its historical position as a leader in African independence.
The talented pair, also animated a Panafrican Photo workshop organised in 2009 by the French Embassy at Alliance française, ‘Visa for Bamako’, which allowed the showcasing of talented photographers from 13 countries of the African Continent at the International photo Biennale where two of them were rewarded with international photography Prizes.
Lyle Ashton Harris’ ‘Excessive Exposure’, published by Gregory R. Miller & Co., is a collection of “chocolate colored” portraits taken by Harris over the span of a decade with a 20 x 24-inch large format Polaroid camera. Subjects included in the book range from Harris’s friends and family to renowned artists and cultural luminaries including Kwame Anthony Appiah, Yoko Ono, Chuck Close among almost two hundred other subjects. Excessive Exposure includes an essay by international curator Okwui Enwezor and an introduction by the distinguished Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. With the dark and subdued chiaroscuro aesthetic of this series, Harris continues to redraw the boundaries of the photographic portrait and deepens his ongoing artistic and cultural investigations of gender, ethnicity and identity.
“Ghana, Who Knows Tomorrow” is an exhibition of new photographic work by Lyle Ashton Harris, Nii Obodai and Bruno Boudjelal. This work initiates a dialogue on contemporary visual representation of Ghana, one with which Harris, Obodai and Boudjelal are engaged through their photographic investigations into Ghanaian culture. This creative endeavour calls for a new framework to represent Ghana in a global arts context, one in which photography is fundamental to conceptualizing the contemporary African experience.

Contact:
French Embassy
Val?rie LESBROS
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Cultural Affairs and Higher Education Attach?
French Embassy
T?l (233-302) 21 45 74/ 0241 34 61 96
Fax (233-302) 21 45 79
valerie.lesbros@diplomatie.gouv.fr
http://www.ambafrance-gh.