Philip Kwame Apagya (born 1958) is a Ghanaian photographer who specialises in colour studio portraits against painted backdrops. He lives and works in Shama, Ghana .
Life and career Born in Sekondi, Apagya was the son of a photographer, and apprenticed in his father's studio as a boy. He studied photojournalism at the Accra School of Journalism before opening his own studio in Shama , on Ghana's west coast, in 1982. He is known today for his studio portraits made using brightly colored backdrops.
Apagya's work is in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi .
Philip Kwame Apagya's works have been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Sheldon Art Galleries in Nebraska , and the Philadelphia Museum of Art , to name a few. His photographs are in many collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York, NY, and the Studio Museum in Harlem , New York, NY
Philip Kwame Apagya is represented by Fifty One Fine Art Photography in Antwerp , Belgium.
2005: Rena Branston Gallery, San Francisco 2004: Recent Photographs, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York 2003: Philip Kwame Apagya, Galerie Stähli, Zürich, Germany 2002: Philip Kwame Apagya, Galerie Schuebbe, Düsseldorf, Germany 2002: Apagya Portraits, Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth 2002: Berlin Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya, Goethe-Institut , Accra and Ghana National Museum, Accra 2002: Philip Kwame Apagya, Alliance Francaise, Bahia 2000: Philip Kwame Apagya Portraits, Galerie Forma Libera, Turin, Italy 2000: Philip Kwame Apagya, Disegni Animati, Galerie Louisa delle Piane, Mailand 2011: Breaking News - Fotografia contemporanea da Medio Oriente e Africa, Ex Ospedale Sant’Agostino, Modena, Italy 2007: Manifest, Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs 2006: The Whole World is Rotten, The Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH 2006: Joint Venture, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA 2005: Earth and Memory: African and African-American Photograph, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC 2005: Arts of Africa, The Contemporary African Art Collection, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, France 2005: African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection, Museum of Fine Art Houston, USA 2004: Horizons, Voices from Global Africa, Museum of World Culture, Sweden 2004: Manufactured Self, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL 2004: Image and Identity: Portraits by Philip Kwame Apagya, Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe, The Sheldon Art Galleries, Saint Louis, MO 2004: African Art, African Voices, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA 2004: When?, Clifford Chance, New York, NY 2004: Staged Realities: The Studio in African Photography 1870-2004, Michael Stevenson Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa 2003: Philip Kwame Apagya, Freiburger Film Forum 2003: In faccia al mondo - il ritratto contemporaneo nel medium fotografico, Museo d’arte contemporaneo di Villa Croce, Genova 2003: The Office, The Photographers Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2003: The Public View, Pentagram, London, United Kingdom 2002: Flash Afrique, Düsseldorf, Kunstforum Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany 2002: IbridAAfricA, hybrid Africa, Cagliari Lazzaretto Sant’Elia 2002: NoBorder, Museo della città di Ravenna 2001: Flash Afrique, Wien, Kunsthalle Wien 2001: The Leopold Godowsky Jr. Color photography award winners 2000, Boston University 2001: The Vibrant Art of Ghana, Den Haag 2001: Philip Kwame Apagya. Photographer of imagined worlds. Gemeene Museum The Hague 2001: Abbild/Depiction, Steirischer Herbst, Graz 2000: "Porträt Afrika", Berlin, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin 2000: "Expressions africaines", Rennes, Frankreich, Maison International 2000: "African Photographers", Antwerpen, 51 Art Gallery - Roger Smulewizc 2000: "Snap me one!" Studio Photographers in Africa, Amsterdam, Tropenmuseum 2000: "Africainside", Groningen, Fries Museum, Noorderlicht-Festival 1999: "Africa by Africa. A photographic View", Barbican Art Gallery, London 1999: "Snap me one!" Studiofotografen in Afrika, Mönchengladbach, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg and Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth 1999: Magazin Photo Nacht, Züricher Tagesanzeiger Xtra-Limmat-Haus, Zürich 1999: Retour de Bamako, Galleries FNAC, Paris and Galleries FNAC, Barcelona, Spain 1999: Fiera di Venezia, Venedig, Alliance Francaise 1999: Fiesta du Sud, Single Exhibit, Marseille, France 1999: Festival des trois continents, Nantes, Frankreich 1998: "Snap me one!" Studiofotografen Afrika, München, Münchner Stadtmuseum 1998: 3émes Rencontres de la photographie africaine, Bamako, Mali 1997: Das Gesicht Afrikas, Hamburg, Pressehaus Geo Gruner + Jahr 
