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Interview with Eric Gyamfi
We interviewed Eric Gyamfi, photographer of Ghana, who will present the work “The Old Ladies’ of Gambaga” during the second edition of SAN JOSÉ FOTO. Eric spoke among other things about the adventures in the beginning of photography, the process of “The Old Ladies’ of Gambaga” series and how photography can change the image of Africa.
How and when did you become a photographer?
I have been making images since I was a kid, although it was all up in my head. Realistically though I remember starting in junior high. I was in a boarding school and met a dorm mate 2years my senior. He had a canon rebel S. and no interest in it as it had been given to him as a gift by an uncle. I was fascinated with it. I would sneak it into his bag and take the camera out whenever they had extra classes. By the end of his final year, when he was leaving school, one of his friends stole the camera. I was so obsessed with it, together with my friend, we devised a plan to get the camera from the thief (whom we eventually found), and keep it to ourselves instead of returning it to the owner. Fortunately for us, our plan was successful.
That was the very first camera I owned. I made so many images, mostly self-portraits with myself, my brother and two other friends. I bought 4 rolls of 24 exposure film with my pocket money and I could swear I was in heaven. In a group of 4, myself inclusive, we staged little tableaus and made images reminiscent of the plays I was involved in during my primary school days. Through a rather unfortunate series of events, the camera was stolen from me 2 months later when I took it back to school. I never got to make prints. Somewhere right now, it’s possible someone still has my rolls of undeveloped negatives, or not. From then, i shot with little “point and shoots”, borrowed or owned till I started shooting with DSLR’s from late 2011 till date.
From college i became very serious with using photography as a means expression. Though i was reading economics and information science at the time, teaching myself the art of photography took an equally important role in terms of time and effort, as the courses i was reading then.
About the work “The Old Ladies’ of Gambaga” how did you get this idea? Can you tell us a little bit about the process?
The Gambaga witches Camp is rather famous in Ghana. I read about it during my primary school days and briefly under African studies, a short course I took during my 2nd year in College. That got me wondering about the story of the inhabitants of the camp. However I wanted to find out things for myself. To see and listen directly from the people involved themselves. So that’s how come 3 years later, I found myself seated face to face with the women from the camp telling me their stories.
There is a bit of a contrast to the impression I had of the camp prior to visiting. The camp is not actually a prison where these women are being held hostage. Rather, it is sorts of sanctuary, granted a-not-so-good-one, but a sanctuary nonetheless for women who are being persecuted in their communities for allegedly being witches and bringing bad omen or causing damage to the people around them.
The real issue here becomes the society and the people within communities that foster these accusations in the first place. Usually most of these women run to these camps to seek safety from family and society who may be hostile/violent towards them for allegedly being witches.The belief in witchcraft is a complex issue directly tied to people and their belief systems.
I went to the camp neither to make portraits of “witches”, nor portraits of victims. I went to make portraits of human beings, strong resilient beautiful human beings. If people can get to understand that the other humans they abuse and stigmatise are just flesh and blood like them, human, strong and vulnerable at the same time, capable of good and bad just like anyone else, maybe they would be more inclined towards empathy for these people.
On your statement you tell that you live on “a country that is still struggling for its own place between the old and the new (modernity)”. From this perspective where the gender discussion is placed in Ghana society?
The issue of Gender (roles and what gender is in general) is a very complex one as well and I will not pretend to have a complete understanding of it. For the fact that my series is about women let me limit the discussion to male/female roles (noting that gender does not end with only male and female), but looking at gender roles through a western eye can also be seriously problematic, especially if it is a country that is still on the transitioning road.
Rather, taking in to consideration the culture and nuances of the way of life of the people, and attempting to educate and solve gender imbalances from that angle or perspective will provide a more feasible and effective solution rather than applying the generic. Tradition is important to many people, in many cultures. Like many other concepts, some cultural demands/practices may have its negative sides, especially those that do not favor women. These are the ones that people need to be educated on.
We should not rush to apply a general idea of how things should be everywhere in a situation like this. Rather if we can understand the very little things in the culture, upon which such prejudices against women are built, then we can start to fully understand the “whys”, arm ourselves with the appropriate tools and with that, we stand a better chance of uprooting gender imbalances.
And how do you think photography can contribute to this process of changes?
Photography could be the most powerful tool for mirroring some humanity back to society. If applied properly, photography can cause some form of introspection, make people realize the extent and effect of their actions or lack of. In some instances, it can awaken/strengthen the people being victimized themselves and stir them to action. If the human eye is the window to the soul, why not feed it with some empathy.
Africa is usually pictured on two extremes, one that shows poverty, hungry and bad human conditions and on the other shows exotic beauty. Do you think this is the result of decades of a foreigner look at the continent? In this scenario what do you think African’s photographers can do to change this?
People see what they want to see, with or without a camera. Foreign media has done a lot of harm, yes, and will probably go on forever. But for me, it is not as much about what foreign media continues to do even now, rather what we can do as a people to communicate a more rounded/complete version of our stories, rid of the over sensationalism these people narrate them with. So if we as a people, with what we have now, today, this minute, decide to take matters into our own hands and tell our own stories as we know them, in its whole truth, complete, then we can start to change the line of the narrative. No one can do that for us. People can understand, people can be empathetic, people can help, but it would only take us, ourselves, to tell our own narrative as it is, with an eye that outsiders may never see it with.
Have you ever presented your work on Latin America? What are your expectations for the festival?
This would be my first time showing my work in Latin America and I am curious as to how people will receive it.
Are you working on future projects?
I worked on a yearlong portrait series on some children that inspired me during my stay in Walewale, a small town in the northern region of Ghana. Some of these children I taught, others I met in the course of my stay. Most of them were from broken homes and were the first to attend schools in their families. With very little, the strength with which they carried on, and their unstoppable desire to achieve and make something off their lives was incredibly moving. These are the stories that are rarely told.
