Willis Bell’s ‘Light & Shadow’ Captures Ghana’s Fierce Post-Independence Spirit

In an exhibition that’s deeply important for the documentation of Ghana’s history, the Mmofra Foundation displays Willis Bell’s photographs that capture the fierce and distinct post-independence spirit of the Gold Coast. Opening today and showing till December 20, at Marvels in Accra, the exhibition tagged Light & Shadow: A Movement in Stills shows the Bell’s deftness in capturing the life, behaviors, and energy of a country that was new to independence. 

The curators shared some of their thoughts, insights, and perspectives on Bell’s work and the resulting exhibition.

“So many of those who have visited the exhibition so far have spoken of the life in the subjects, the air of hope and possibility that embodied a new nation in a state of becoming. This was our intent - to give viewers a glimpse of the various forms of expression of that vivacity and that hope; whether it is in the tilt of a dancer’s body reclaiming and retelling an enduring culture; the concentration of workers serving as custodians of a nation industrializing; the quiet moments of synthesis formed by culture and modernity; architecture, lost and created; futures lost and defined; hope eternal in the trajectories that have defined the Ghanaian present.

Light & Shadow: A Movement in Stills invites those who engage it to see everyday life as both archive and choreography in what is essentially a site of intersection between memory and becoming. Bell provides a privileged entry into the shared experience of people across the country. His lens captures the spirit of Ghana in a manner that is most profoundly human, in all its complexity; through his eyes, we are able to experience and conceptualize a future past,” the curators tell OkayAfrica.

When asked how Willis Bells' unique perspective — or his relationship with the community — explains the intimacy and access evident in these historical images, the curators shared, “Bell was fortunate enough to have been introduced into circles of creatives, professionals, and politicians who were deeply involved in the process of shaping the emerging Ghana. This explains much of his access.

In working with Bell’s images over the years, we always felt a certain silence, the kind that accompanies a person able to disappear into the background, leaving a very light footprint as they moved. But what comes to mind now, too, is this — that not only was Bell able to access these spaces and respect them, but the people themselves were consumed in their lives; whether it was the market woman receiving cowries in payment for her grain or the child surfing in the shallows off the coast of southern Ghana. It is reminiscent of Sartre’s comments on Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth; a people going about their reclamation, aware of the presence of outsiders but focused on themselves. That being said, one must also acknowledge how Bell arrived not as an anthropologist, but as a person also becoming — and how over the next few years he would not only become, but die, Ghanaian. His presence in intimate spaces can be read as a reflection of that transformation, one who is not yet home but is, indeed, home.”

Speaking on the single most unexpected or emotional photograph the team discovered during the curation process that wasn't in the history books, they said, “The images of the industrialization of Ghana in the Nkrumah years hit the entire team quite hard, our exhibition visitors too. To see Ghana making strides towards economic independence, and knowing what became of that work, is heartbreaking. It was not just the actual factories, but the people working in them, and the dignity afforded them. It is assumed that many of us have some understanding of what happened in that period, but many - especially the younger generations — do not. This is a history — and a dignity — lost. This loss is real - we had a group of young students from a private school visit us one day; when they saw the trains, they said they didn’t know Ghana had a train system. When their teacher told them that Nkrumah’s dream was to connect the whole country by rail, one student asked, ‘What happened to our dream?’”

The curators shared the most difficult editorial decision they had to make in choosing images from an archive of over 40,000. 

“Bell’s photography covers a wide range of subjects, from architecture to politics, culture to trade and industry, and daily life to portraits. It was critical that the archive’s first offering give viewers from all walks of life a rich glimpse into the treasures it held. This is not easy when working with over 40,000 images; within the team alone, each member has a very unique experience of Bell through their own intimate journey with his work, and so making a selection that would speak to every visitor was a daunting task that required much reflexivity and a lightness of touch that would allow Bell and his subjects to speak for themselves. We hope we achieved that.”