Larry Amponsah was born in 1989 in Accra, Ghana, earned his BFA in painting from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2015, an MFA in Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy from Jiangsu University in 2016, and an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art, London in 2018. Inspired initially by Ghanian calendars, which are usually layered one upon the other, Amponsah works in collage with archival and print materials.
Mixed-media artist Larry Amponsah was born in Accra, Ghana in 1989, growing up in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. He displayed a natural talent for drawing from an early age. At school he was always sketching figures on his black slate using the white chalk that was given to each student for class work: by the time each actual class began, his chalk was already finished. Amponsah earned his BFA in painting from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2015, where he gained the ‘intellectual strength and confidence’ to become an artist (Art Breath interview). During this time he first experimented with collage, finding it the most interesting and challenging medium to express his creative ideas. Amponsah subsequently studied Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy at Jiangsu University, PRC in 2016, where he explored a vast range of materials, both conventional and unconventional, thereby extending his art practice into other economic, cultural, social and political avenues, which ‘solidified my sense of sensitivity’ (Art Breath interview). Amponsah then moved to London c. 2016, graduating with an MA in painting from the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, in 2018. During this time he created the double-sided collage Come Close, Look Closer… If You Want Moor of Me which explored the role of the artist in contemporary times, as well as the making and consumption of art. Amponsah acknowledged that, since leaving Ghana, his practice has ‘seriously’ evolved in response to the new people with whom he has engaged, the tools he has had access to, the quality of materials he has worked with and, most importantly, ‘the current global politics people like myself (black people) are subjected to’ (Open Space interview).
Amponsah continues to works in collage, utilising archival and print materials, and objects and stories from various cultures, in order to negotiate systems of power and create new ways of transcending boundaries. Originally inspired by Ghanaian calendars, which are usually displayed layered one on top of the other, his collages are assembled and then further worked upon, using both mechanical and digital processes, as well as traditional painting techniques. Amponsah has justified his use of collage as ‘a necessity; it’s adequate enough to help me deeply reflect on the harsh living conditions of certain people in certain spaces and strategically find ways to include their stories (my story) in the history of art’ (Omenka Magazine). Although focusing on contemporary Black culture, identity, politics and history, his work also reveals Amponsah’s awareness of being part of ‘a greater global narrative’ (Open Space interview). His collages often feature ‘grotesque-like yet non-off-putting entities’ reflecting various living conditions of people, both high and low. Amponsah manipulates the scale, texture, pixels, colour, and compositions of the sampled images through Photoshop, reprinting all the images in various sizes. He then works on them over months, physically collaging, weaving, scraping, painting, binding, and sometimes concealing the finished work with tapes or semi-transparent glue in order to reveal what he calls ‘the now here, but nowhere and yet from everywhere’ (Omenka magazine). Sometimes, the final compositions are printed onto canvas. In his complex process, Amponsah particularly enjoys ‘the parts of the images I choose to cover – that’s where some on my profound secrets rest’ (Art Breath interview). As noted by gallerist and curator, Lawrie Shabibi, ‘Illusive to the senses, these works do not fall under the category of painting when looked at, and/or under collage when observed closer. They are neither shaped by reality nor fiction, but reside in the space between the physical and imagined’ (Shabibi 2023). Amponsah’s recent series of large-scale collage paintings feature images from popular magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harpers Bazaar. Cutting into the hundreds of stereotyped images of ‘white beauty’, reflecting dominant canons of representation, Amponsah transforms the original pictures into a series of compelling portraits of Black people that reference his Ghanaian heritage and the greater global Black narratives.
Amponsah served as a Trustee of The Kuenyehia Art Trust in Ghana from 2018–2020. He was shortlisted for the 2019 Young Masters Art Prize and for the 2019 Denton’s Art Prize, and won the Be Smart About Art Award in 2019. He is an Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. Recent solo exhibitions included When A Stone Cracks, We Don’t Stitch at 50 Golborne, London and The Open City of Many Gods Billboard, Bloc Projects, Sheffield (both 2019). Larry Amponsah lives and works in London, England. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Larry Amponsah]
Publications related to [Larry Amponsah] in the Ben Uri Library