Ryan Hopkins | July 4, 2024
Painter and photographer Kelvin Haizel from Ghana, realized his art talent back in elementary school. “I used to draw cartoon network characters like BugsBunny, Daffy Duck, ScoobyDoo, Tasmanian Devil, Dexter, Power Rangers, Ninja turtles, Wild Cats, among others’” Said Kelvin. This is how my father discovered I had interest in art and guided me towards this path. My mom also got me my first art case which had almost everything I needed and this christened my commitment even further.
Although I was trained as a painter for my Bachelors, I ventured into the world of photography and imaging during my MFA and held onto that for a good number of years until fairly recently returning to my first love, that is painting. My photographic practice concerns itself with questions about how images emerge, its objectness or otherwise, the agency of images and so on. Whereas my abstract painterly forms allow me to be present, slow down the pace of life and revel in the delight of gesturing with paint on canvas. Painting is a way to externalize an inwardness, a kind of filtering through the body’s lived experiences.
Accra, which is where where I was born and raised, and Kumasi, where I had my tertiary education, have had a significant influence on my practice. What message do I hope my work translates to people you ask? Well,I don’t know if there is a real encoded message other than the desire to translate ideas into aesthetic forms that I am curious about. But if pushed I would say it’s a way to slow down the pace of life to fully take advantage of the present.
In 2015, I went to buy paint at Asafo, Kumasi, and realized the built up swatches of paint on their walls created an exciting impressionist abstraction. This was a lightbulb moment for me to begin a new project where I hang canvases on walls in paint retail shops across Accra and Kumasi. In an unrelated instance, while reading literature on photographic ‘Punctum‘ as described by Roland Barth, I began a related project that looks at sites of vehicular accidents as sites that bear the semblance of the something that cannot be anticipated, created, not constructed. It just happens! With the two examples above, you see my inspiration can come from any and everywhere. My duty is to be kind to what has inspired me and give it the care it deserves in order for it to materialize.
Some of the exhibitions I have participated in include ‘Archive of Experiences’, 8th Hamburg Photography Triennial, MARKK museum, Hamburg, Germany (2022); ‘Beautiful Diaspora /You Are Not the Lesser Part’ Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA (2022); ‘This is Not Africa- Unlearn What You Have Learned’ ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark (2021), ‘Tomorrow There Will Be More of Us’, Stellenbosch Trienniale, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2020); ‘Afrotopia’, Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale Africaine de la Photographie (2017); and host of others.
The time it takes to complete a piece always depends on the project I’m working on. Sometimes it takes weeks and other times months to resolve even the simplest of ideas.
I find every opportunity to share my work with diverse audiences and don’t ever take that for granted because art is the only life I know and it has been really generous towards me. Art allows us to eat with our left hand and asks why again!
My biggest highlight thus far is winning the Vontobel prize for emerging photography from Africa, “A New Gaze II”, was a delightful moment at a very low point in my life. I was going through a lot when I received a phone call congratulating me as the winner. But I’ll save the story for another day. As for challenges I have experienced, I would say not being able to develop some ideas because one can only spread themselves this thin.
How do you feel about the state of art in your country and in what ways do you think it could be better?
We have a beautiful dynamic art ecosystem that is equally rife with experimental attitudes to practice. So, there is always something fresh to tease your mind even when you are not actively seeking. But I think we could use a lot more institutions that can help build artist careers.
I can be found through the following platforms :
Instagram : @khaizel22
Email: khaizel22@gmail.com
My gallery : Gallerie Farah Fakhri @farahfakhri