BRUSSELS.- Depicting everyday Ghanaian sceneries, the emerging artist Cornelius Annor combines acrylic paint with fabric and fabric transfers to create large figurative paintings. The artist’s research revolves around family history, through family photo albums, as such exploring moments in time, from pre-colonial Ghana and Post-independent Ghana to our contemporary era. The characters in his paintings are old and young, male and female, sharing different emotions, often in a context of gathering. Incorporating objects and clothes from different periods, Annor plays with memory, history and temporality.

"For me archiving as a form has the potential to open up discussions on lost and forgotten histories and its politics. And I intend to bring into presence these past histories through my works as a way of creating a room of memory which can migrate my audience to a particular moment in time and reflect on themselves."

Annor invites the viewer to connect with the figures in ambiguous yet completely present and familiar ways. These seemingly ordinary moments of intimacy, gathering and entertainment also set the focus on the details of his fabric transfer technique as well as his photography collages merging tradition and contemporaneity in his work. Departing from archival photographs from family albums or from the internet, he reconfigures his references using photoshop with the idea of inter-migrating cultures, identities and histories. The combination of collages with painting disrupts the depth and perspective within the painting. Through his distinctive practice Cornelius Annor attempts to change our reading of history.

Cornelius Annor was born in 1990 in Accra, Ghana. He is known as a figurative painter depicting everyday life often departing from childhood memories and family history. He completed his fine art studies at Ghanatta College of Art and Design, where fellow artists Amoako Boafo, Kwesi Botchway, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe and Emmanuel Taku also studied. From an early age, Annor developped a passion for painting, sketching his family, friends and even strangers. Annor lives and works in Ghana where he established C.Annor studio, a space dedicated to encouraging and supporting young talents and upcoming artists.

Annor’s work has been exhibited throughout Africa and the U.S., including at the Ghana National Museum and the Accra Art Center.