PHOTOS: Eric Gyamfi’s Masculine Mythology

Gyamfi on his work: “My works in many ways are a reflection of my own days, gone and ongoing, centered with family and society orbiting around it. As such, there is a direct response to the actions of these entities, subliminal or otherwise, that I attempt to explore through a conscious  reconstruction process, a performance of sorts, using monochrome photography as a tool to document those experiences, on themes of sexuality and gender, religion and tradition. These themes are further explored on a framework of a country that is still struggling for its own place between the old and the new (modernity). Using my own body as a narrative tool, with the eye of an insider, I develop these photo sequences as a commentary on the times I live in, both as an African man, and a human being, bearing in mind its notions of masculinity, manhood and sexual identity, and the psychological complexities associated with these constructs, as I struggle to secure a sense of self and place in a country that is struggling for same.”

Gyamfi on why he shoots mostly self-portraits: “The answers are quite simple. The first one being the fact that I am always available, whenever, wherever. The images are very subjective. I am trying to articulate things within my mind and about my self that even I cannot understand completely. […] it feels more honest and efficient that I become the subject.”

Eric Gyamfi was born in Ghana, West Africa. Gyamfi’s work is mainly in the medium of photography. Currently living and working in Ghana, his work predominantly consists of self-portraits, usually shot in monochrome, and various portrait series that comment on his country’s continual transition to modernity in the light of its traditions and customs and the people caught therein. There is also a focus on at-risk minorities (women and children), and sexual identity.

Gyamfi has an upcoming exhibit in Uruguay at the San Jose photo festival from April 7 to 10, 2016. You can see more of his work on his web site.