Essay 3 of Through Our Lens: Kwasi Kyei

An archival gem is how Kwasi Kyei’s photos appear at first glance. As a Ghanaian Canadian photographer based in Toronto, Kyei’s black and white images appear old, as they allude to wisdom only an elder can give you, but offer new perspectives on who and how they are shot.

Kyei's focus is on “life and life moments,” he says, citing that he captures everything from life’s intimate moments to building and engaging by sharing his images with his burgeoning online community. “For many years, I’ve been capturing people, moments and scenes in different settings. From annual reports and journaling to formal or stylized portraiture,” says Kyei. A specialized niche is not Kyei’s style but rather a limitation to what he brings to his table. 

Kyei weaves his dual identity, as a Ghanaian and photographer, into his photos, describing them as a “retelling of lived experiences via the photographic medium.” Lived experiences are a powerful lens to use because it builds on the reality that is before us by framing the truth in certain spaces. Lived experiences are capsules of truth, making photographers holders of the truth. 

One of these truths is Toronto is a “comingling of tragic moments as well as joyful collective experiences that show the resilience of the many peoples that call this city home,” says Kyei. Kyei describes Toronto as a “proverbial global village,” with an abundance of culture and diversity. This is what makes Toronto's creative scene unique because the truth holders are not in the mainstream. They also, incredibly, are from other parts of the world, so they mesh nuances from their home into a city that gives them room to creatively express their nostalgia. 

Kyei’s recent artwork gives a dose of this nostalgia and takes us to the world of Black bodies. Honam means “body” or “skin” in Twi, a dialect of Akan, one of the many networks of languages from Ghana in West Africa. 

One of Kyei’s shots is “Umbilicus,” a black and white photograph of a navel. The photo throws us into a sea of memory, the navel being the host of our umbilical cord where we were gravely attached to our life and love source. The image’s contrast points of light and dark reveal the microscopic details of hair, pores and skin lines.

“It was the first image I ever submitted in hopes of gaining recognition,” says Kyei. The Absa L’Atelier is a prominent annual Pan-African art competition that kickstarts the careers of young African artists to which Kyei submitted “Umbilicus” in 2018. “While it didn’t go all the way

to the top, it’s become more meaningful for what it represents on my journey as an artist, a constant reminder about life and about impermanence,” says Kyei. 

Another shot is “Beach Boys,” two pictures capture the innocent craftiness that enters when the days are long and the waves are even longer. Often, beach boys on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean are tourists’ entertainment, hustlers by day and night, or simply kids with enough time on their hands. Their smiles as they fold into a body pillar or bend their legs into the sky are indications that Black joy exists no matter how small or young. 

“Photographing Black beauty is my way of realizing Fyodor Dostoevsky’s quote about the topic and projecting the notion that beauty will save the world. As a Black contemporary artist and a photographer, I feel that certain compelling call to act,” says Kyei.

Kyei’s call to action has landed him in artistic projects and communities like BAND Gallery, Legacies on Motion: Black Queer Toronto Archival Project, TO Live and the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Despite occasionally having feelings of regret, he is truly grateful for these moments of inspiration and growth. “It has always been a wish of mine to be able to gain some form of recognition among the broader community and within the discipline I’m so very passionate about,” says Kyei. 

This passion is contagious, and Kyei, an inquisitive thinker, wishes for people to have moments to ponder his shots in hopes of learning from them. “There are certain life mysteries that wait to be rediscovered, and if I’m able, with my photographs, to teach or highlight something, be it new or of certain histories and challenging the status quo, I’m glad,” says Kyei. 

Kyei’s ability to “teach” with his photographs is a special craft in itself, and he encourages younger photographers to “seek knowledge” for themselves. “Keep a balance while honing in on the analytical, factual and logical versions versus the artistic, creative and imaginative self and of thought. Remember each morning that the world usually wakes up when you do,” says Kyei. 

“An amazing woman called Susan once shared with me something she’d learned: ‘Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.’” Kyei’s photos showcase the balance he’s achieved within such tension, an archival gem. The desire to reveal new perspectives and the desire to remain a mystery long enough to incite a chase.