© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive, 2022

COLLECTIONS CATALOG

Anna Attinga Frafra, Accra, Ghana
Paul Strand
Medium
Gelatin silver print on baryta paper
Dimensions
Printed area size: 19,6 × 24,6 cm
Paper size: 20,1 × 25,3 cm
Inventory
FM000976
Date
1964
/
1964
1964
Inscription/Legend
Signed by Hazel Strand on the back
Author
Born: Nueva York, 1890
Died: Orgeval, Francia, 1976
Photography
Series:
Ghana (1963-1964) (Paul Strand)
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© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive, 2022

Descripción

Throughout the 1960s, during the Cold War, Paul Strand continued his documentary work traveling to different socialist countries such as Romania, Egypt, and Ghana. As evidenced by the series of photobooks that he published, Strand’s perspective on these realities is translated into portraits, landscapes, and images of the communities’ daily life and their objects. Nevertheless, although direct references to political issues are eloquently scarce in his photographs, some elements can be observed that subtly point to the positive aspects of the revolutionary processes occurring in these countries.

Such is the case of the portrait of Anna Attinga Frafra—included in Ghana: An African Portrait (New York, Aperture, 1976)—in which the simplicity of the composition points to one dissonant element: the books balanced on the girl’s head. The symbolic character of the image serves as a reference to the literacy and education campaigns planned for the Ghanaian populations, which included women, and has an undoubtedly, albeit subtle, propagandistic nature. Nevertheless, the photograph makes sense and coexists seamlessly with the other images that make up the series. As a whole, they offer a vision that is an alternative from ethnographic typology, incorporating the reality of the aspirations, efforts, and hopes of the community without becoming crude propaganda.

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© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive, 2022

Dato que aparecerá sobre la obra/bibliografía
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