James Barnor and Veronica Ryan Share Their Extraordinary Journeys

At 180 The Strand During Frieze Week in London, the pop-up exhibition Moncler – The Extraordinary Expedition told the story of Moncler’s 70-year history with a multisensory journey into their past, present and future. To coincide with The Extraordinary Expedition, Frieze collaborated with Moncler to bring renowned contemporary artists to share their own extraordinary journeys, both literal and figurative.  

In the first in person event, filmmaker Adu Lalouschek joined James Barnor to discuss his almost mythological life as a game-changing international photographer. From working as a photojournalist during Ghanaian independence in the 1950s, and producing some of the 1960s most recognisable press portraits, Barnor has been applauded for both his artistic vision and technical mastery for over six decades. Within the vast spectrum of his work, Barnor continually centres humanity, saying: 'I love people. I love meeting people'.  

"With me, when I get somewhere to live or a dark room, then I've got a studio. I don't worry about studio. As long as when I shut my door I can print, develop and print, I have a studio."

"I loved meeting the people who got new clothes, who come in and they're in love, and their connection with their clothes is something that you can't forget, especially when a child is clothed with something new. I know women always like to be photographed with their handbags as well as their shoes. Men, sometimes they come, and they forget their body so that you see them and their hands."

"That was what I enjoyed in photography, and in people, and in my work especially. Any time that I found I've got a picture which is different, I want."

"Basically, I'm a technician, but I think I approached colour with the same technical attitude."

"Civilization flourishes when men plant trees under which they themselves will never sit. You do things you may not get the benefits of it, others will. Giving is even sometimes better than receiving, you will get more when you give."

– James Barnor 

At the second in-conversation event, Jenni Lomax, curator and long-term champion of Veronica Ryan’s practice, explained: ‘there's lots of words that you can use about the way Veronica works. Carving, casting, stacking, sewing, weaving, binding, gathering, collecting, piling’. Expanding on the nomadic essence of Ryan’s sculptures, including her Turner Prize 2022 nomination and commission to honour the Windrush Generation, Ryan explained how artworks can embark on their own journey beyond the maker’s control. 

"Part of what happens with moving around a lot is that I tend to carry things around with me that I collect. Then sometimes they become things but it's also to do with the idea of traveling, both literally and conceptually and metaphorically."

"The work is actually quite associative in cross-referencing and seeing where the connections are. I think when children don’t have a chance to have a music lesson, they're only taught to read or to do a very particular addition, and so on, they’re not getting a sense early on about different possibilities."

"I have particular ideas, and then I might make something which triggers part of some of my thinking. A lot of the way I work is through materials and then the material often suggest it's an impossibility. So, in a way, I feel as I'm having a conversation with the material and myself, and that often the material suggests where it wants to go."

"I'm also interested in the fact that once you made something, there's a kind of abstraction that is attached to something that's not the same as it's original thing."

"I think there are always threads that continue in the work, but it's also influenced by the particular environment I'm in, by both people and the landscape."

– Veronica Ryan 

‘The Extraordinary Expedition’ celebrates Moncler's 70th anniversary with an immersive installation which opened in New York on October 5th, followed by London (October 12th-16th) and Seoul (November 18th-22nd)

^{Main image: James Barnor and Adu Lalouschek in conversation at 180 The Strand, October 2022. Photo: Luke Fullalove}