{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1244308"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1244308/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GC9791/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GC9791/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GC9791","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1244308/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1244308","accessionNumber":"E.106-2012","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Selina Opong, Policewoman #10","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\nBarnor’s photograph of the young policewoman Selina Opong reflects the sense of civic pride and the new ambitions of urban professionals as Ghana looked to independence. Titled as ‘Policewoman #10’, Selina Opong was the tenth female police officer to graduate from the newly established police academy in Accra. 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.\n","physicalDescription":"Black and white square format photograph of a young woman dressed as a police officer taken in a phpto studio. The young woman is aged around 20-25 years old, she is standing in a forward facing, quarter-turn position to her right. She is smiling and saluting with her right hand. She is wearing a three-quarter length skirt, white socks and black shoes. Behind her are a pair of curtains drawn about halfway behind, behind them hangs a painted backdrop depicting a wealthy colonial-style interior drawing room looking out to a veranda and garden. Within the painted interior are depicted; a rug, as small table with flowers on top, curtains and French doors which lead to the  painted veranda, a Greco-Roman column, a tree and bushes. Below the sitter lies a vinyl Mat  with a repeated motif of a rose in a Victorian style.","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 photographer 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":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Black and white, silver gelatin, fibre based square format photograph.","categories":[{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Uniform","id":"THES253003"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2013GC9791"],"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":"1954","earliest":"1954-01-01","latest":"1954-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.105-2012","id":"O1244307"},"association":"Object"}],"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 lower right under image '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, 'Selina Opong, Policewoman #10', gelatin silver print, Ever Young Studio, Accra, c.1954, printed 2011, ed. 1/10","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Ghana","id":"x30041"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"Ever Young Studio","id":"AUTH319183"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"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.106-2012"],"accessionNumberNum":"106","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2012,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Limited Edition Number","id":"THES57639"},"number":"1/10"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-18","recordCreationDate":"2012-03-07","availableToBook":false}}