Felicia Abban
Felicia Ewuraesi Abban (née Ansah; 1936/1937 – 4 January 2024) was Ghana's first female professional photographer. She worked as a photographer for the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, for a number of years during the 1960s.
Also recorded as Felicia Ansah · Felicia Ewuraesi Abban · Felicia Ansah Abban
Felicia Abban

Scan from the original work · Public domain
- Died
- 2024. · Accra.
- Nationality
- Ghana.
- Occupation
- photographer.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
Felicia Ewuraesi Abban (née Ansah; 1936/1937 – 4 January 2024) was Ghana's first female professional photographer. She worked as a photographer for the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, for a number of years during the 1960s.
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Felicia Abban (1935–2024) was a photographer and a national of Ghana. The photographer died in Accra. Felicia Abban worked in Accra. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q56729035 · wikipedia · Felicia Abban
In this article
Early life
Early life
Felicia Abban was born in the Western Region of Ghana and grew up in a seaside town named Sekondi-Takoradi. She was the eldest of six children and quickly followed her father's, J. E. Ansah, footsteps in photography, becoming his apprentice at the age of 14. Abban studied under him for the next four years working on her craft and at the age of 18, she relocated from Takoradi to Accra, where she set up her own studio. In a few months she opened up her business, "Mrs. Felicia Abban's Day and Night Quality Art Studio" in the centre of Jamestown, Accra in 1955. Felicia's husband, Richard Abban, designed the fabric with Kwame Nkrumah's portrait on flowers with a map of Ghana for the country's independence celebrations in 1957. Abban's studio was also close to other studios, including J. K. Bruce Vanderpuije's "Deo Gratias" and James Barnor's "Ever Young Studio". They also contributed to the history of Ghanaian photographers during this time period. This was still before Ghana's independence and Deo Gratias is the oldest photography studio still in operation in Accra. It was established by Tamakloe's grandfather James Koblah Bruce-Vanderpuije in 1922, it earned a reputation for documenting key events in the country's history. James Barnor's photography studio in the early 1950s captured intimate moments of luminaries and key political figures, including Ghana's first prime minister, Kwame Nkrumah, as he pushed for pan-African unity and independence from colonial rule. In Abban's early career she also worked for the Guinea Press Limited, now known as The Ghana Times, which was also the publishing house of Nkrumah's Convention People's Party when he became president.
Photography career
Photography career
Spanning 50 years, Abban's photography career began when she learned photography from her father, and became his only female apprentice at the time. Ghana's first female photographer, she went on to become one of the continent's most respected photo artists of her day – on the payroll of Kwame Nkrumah and a detailed analyst of her country's transformation. She was widely known for her self-portraits, especially ones she took before an event as a way to promote her business from the 1950s to 1970s. Abban established her studio in Accra in 1955 and took on other women as apprentices. She was then recognized as one of Ghana's earliest instrumental female photographers projecting the contemporary African narrative through the lens. During the early independence, her portraits also used clothing as the main expression of her identity and were used as "calling cards" around her own muses. Her self-portraits resembled fashion magazine images with an added more contemporary context. What is consistent throughout these diverse photographs is the way in which Abban used clothing to visibly articulate a feminine identity that played with the traditional and contemporary in an artful hybridity described as urbane and trans-Atlantic. The first public display of her work was curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim and staged at ANO's gallery in March 2017 and the gallery has plans of transforming her studio into a museum in her honour. The museum, when completed, will help preserve her work further serving as a hub to support upcoming artists. Nana Oforiatta Ayim also curated Ghana Freedom the first Ghanaian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019, which included Abban among the six artists chosen. Abban's portraits and self-portraits rendered a moment in Ghanaian history through her own female gaze that captured not only their style but also attitude during its time. Abban's work was also showcased in the 12th edition of the 2019 Bamako Encounters. Abban's private photo collection consists of self-portraits before she attended events. She retired from photography as a result of a worsening arthritis condition. Abban died in Accra on 4 January 2024, at the age of 87.
Personal life
Personal life
Abban was married to Robert Abban, the man who designed the fabric to commemorate Ghana's independence celebration in 1957 with Kwame Nkrumah's portrait featured on flowers with the Ghana map. Robert Abban was the creative director of former Ghana Textiles and Manufacturing Company (GTMC). Felicia Abban played a role in mentoring seminal filmmaker Kwaw Ansah, as well as the fashion designer Kofi Ansah, both of whom are her siblings. She was also the sibling of JKE Ansah, Tumi Ansah, Kwaw Ansah and Kofi Ansah.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1935
Felicia Abban was born in 1935.
2024
Felicia Abban died in 2024 at Accra.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q56729035: Felicia Abban
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Felicia Abban”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Dress Politics and Framing Self in Ghana: The Studio Photographs of Felicia Abban, African Arts, 2016
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2016
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ghana mourns death of pioneer female photographer, Felicia Ewuraesi Abban - MyJoyOnline. www.myjoyonline.com. 2024-01-05.
- 2.Best, Tamara. Portraits by Ghana's First Woman Photographer. The New York Times. 7 March 2017.
- 3.Bowles, Laurian R. Dress Politics and Framing Self in Ghana: The Studio Photographs of Felicia Abban. African Arts. 49. 4. 48–57. 24 November 2016. 1937-2108.
- 4.McTernan, Billie. Felicia Abban: Behind the Scenes. C&. Contemporary And. 17 April 2019.
- 5.Yeboah, Kwabena Agyare. Felicia Abban: Remembering the Woman in all the Portraits. Aha! Review. 10 September 2018.
- 6.Awal, Mohammed. Felicia Abban; Ghana's first female photographer in whose lens was Nkrumah's mirror. Face2Face Africa. 2019-12-11.
- 7.TELLING THE STORY: DEO GRATIAS by Billie McTernan - Art Africa Magazine. 16 February 2017.
- 8.James Barnor, Ever Young. 15 May 2016.
- 9.Davis, Mark G. 17 West African womxn photographers changing the world's visual language. Between 10 and 5. 14 November 2017.
- 10.Meet Ghana's first female photographer in whose lens was Nkrumah's mirror. GhanaWeb. 19 December 2019.
- 11.Ghana's first female professional photographer passes away. Daily Graphic. 5 January 2024.
- 12.Adogla-Bessa, Delali. Felicia Abban: Ghana's first woman professional photographer passes on at age 87. Yen.com.gh - Ghana news. 2024-01-05.
- 13.Ghana's first female professional photographer is dead. GhanaWeb. 2024-01-05.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Dress Politics and Framing Self in Ghana: The Studio Photographs of Felicia Abban, African Arts, 2016Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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