{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1244307"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1244307/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GC9790/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GC9790/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GC9790","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1244307/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1244307","accessionNumber":"E.105-2012","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Everything In My Hand I Bring","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Born in 1929, Ghanaian photographer James Barnor documented the shift towards modern living as experienced by black people in both Africa and Britain. In the early 1950s, Barnor set up Ever Young studio in Accra’s Jamestown district where he took photographs of the local community at key stages in their lives. Although intended as personal mementos, the Ever Young photographs also recorded the changes occurring in Ghanaian society in this period. \r\n\r\nThe modern interior depicted in Barnor’s studio backdrop contrasts with the traditional clothing of the woman seated with a child beside her. Through this photograph the sitter could communicate her participation in the modern, independent aspirations of Ghana regardless of personal circumstances. The fabric of the woman’s dress, patterned with open hands and the statement ‘Everything In My Hand I Bring’, highlights this sentiment. In 1957, Ghana became the first nation in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from the British Empire. \r\n\r\nThe V&A acquired five photographs by James Barnor as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.","physicalDescription":"Black and white, square format photograph of a young black woman and a small child taken in a photographic studio. The woman is seated in the centre of a low stage wearing a dress patterened with the repeated image of a hand holding a heart with light emanating from it. Printed on the dress are the words 'EVERYTHING IN MY HAND I BRING'. She has her hands on her lap and her right index finger is held between the index and thumb of her left hand. She wears a necklace with a flower pendant. On her right hand side as small child presses itself against her leg looking out to the upper right hand side of the image with an upset look on its face. The child wears a floral dress and shoes. Behind them drawn curtains flank a painted backdrop depicting a wealthy colonial-style interior drawing room looking out onto a veranda and garden. The painted scene includes a rug, a small table with flowers on top, curtains, French doors, a Greco-Roman column, a tree and bushes. Below the sitters lies a vinyl mat with a repeated motif of a rose.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"James Barnor","id":"AUTH319179"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Ever Young Studio","id":"AUTH319183"},"association":{"text":"Photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":"Ever Young Studio was opened by James Barnor as a commercial photographic portrait studio in the Jamestown district of Accra, Ghana in 1949 before he first moved to the UK in the 1960s."}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gelatin silver process","id":"AAT139114"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"}],"styles":[{"text":"documentary","id":"x37881"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2013GC9790"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"SP","shelf":"3","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Ghana","id":"x30041"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Accra","id":"THES261530"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"C.1953","earliest":"1948-01-01","latest":"1957-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":"James Barnor's Ever Young Studio where this photograph was taken was located in Accra's Jamestown district."},{"date":{"text":"2011","earliest":"2011-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.106-2012","id":"O1244308"},"association":"Series"},{"object":{"text":"E.102-2012","id":"O1243180"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.103-2012","id":"O1243181"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"E.104-2012","id":"O1244306"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"280","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Image size","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"278","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Image size","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Signed under image on lower right 'JAMES BARNOR C.1953/2011' and on verso, lower right 'ED 1/10'.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"The V&A acquired this photograph as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by James Barnor, 'Everything In My Hand I Bring', gelatin silver print, Accra, Ghana, c.1953, printed 2011, ed. 1/10","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Ghana","id":"x30041"},{"text":"Accra","id":"THES261530"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[{"text":"Ever Young Studio","id":"AUTH319183"}],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"Ever Young Studio","id":"AUTH319183"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Studio","id":"AAT223022"},{"text":"Stage","id":"AAT4751"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Text label for the exhibition, 'Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s-1990s\r\n16 February – 24 May 2015\r\n\nJames Barnor (born 1929)\r\nEverything in My Hand I Bring, 1953\r\nSelina Opong, Policewoman #10, 1954\r\nWedding Guests in London, 1960 – 69\r\nEva, London, 1960\n\r\nBarnor set up a photography studio in Accra in Ghana\r\nin 1947. Although intended as personal mementos for\r\nthe sitters, his studio photographs also record changes\r\nin Ghanaian society in the 1950s and ’60s. Policewoman\r\nSelina Opong, who poses in one of the photographs, was\r\none of the first female police officers to graduate from the\r\nnewly established police academy in Accra. Barnor later\r\nmoved to London, where his reportage work for magazines\r\nshowed the emergence of a modern, multicultural city.\n\r\nGelatin silver prints (printed 2011)\r\nMuseum nos. E.102, 104 to 106-2012","date":{"text":"16/02/2015-24/05/2015","earliest":"2015-02-16","latest":"2015-05-24"}}],"partNumbers":["E.105-2012"],"accessionNumberNum":"105","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2012,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Limited Edition Number","id":"THES57639"},"number":"1/10"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-25","recordCreationDate":"2012-03-07","availableToBook":false}}