When the ‘Music To My Eyes’ exhibition opens at the Nubuke Foundation, East Legon in Accra on Saturday, June 17, art enthusiasts able to make it there would encounter a unique approach to photography brought about by young artist, Simon Bowman Jnr.

Per analogue photography, one presses a shutter button on a camera to capture an image which is then developed and printed in a darkroom.

Simon Bowman Jnr. doesn’t generate his images by that route. He creates his photographs directly on 35mm films in chemicals he formulated.

The amazing thing is that those chemicals are made from tropical fruit juices such as mango, watermelon, pineapple and oranges, all sourced from local markets.

“So I don’t take photographs; I make them,” says Bowman Jnr. who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

According to Bowman Jnr., his fascination with photography began when he tried to understand how his mother’s camera worked when he was small. His experimentation with analogue photography started at the university. One of the courses required him and some colleagues to make pinhole cameras, take photos, develop and present them in class.

That process of going into the photographic darkroom ignited a sustained desire to try certain techniques on his own and the Nubuke exhibition, which ends on August 26, displays how he has carried on with his ingenious approach to photography.

An exciting aspect of Bowman Jnr.’s photographs are his musical compositions that accompany the chemical reactions.

Stuff by the young man have featured in several exhibitions including ‘In Dialogue’ (2021) at Alliance Francaise in Accra, ‘Evolution of Science’ exhibition’ (2018) and ‘Orderly Disorderly’ (2017), both at the Museum of Science and Technology, Accra. He was a finalist in the ‘Kuenyehia Art Prize for Contemporary Ghanaian Art’ in 2018 and the 2022 CFAO Young Talent art contest.

The ‘Music To My Eyes’ exhibition opens at midday on June 17. There will be an Art Talk session with Bowman Jnr. from 3.00pm.

Meanwhile, Nubuke Foundation has announced Muzeyi Yelyen as the outfit’s first artist-in- residence at its Centre for Clay and Textiles in Wa, Upper West Region. Muzeyi is an illustrator, designer and writer. He is a BA graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, specializing in Design and Illustration.

“His beautiful works reflect his roots and significance of our origins in shaping our present and future,” a statement from Nubuke said about Muzeyi Yelyen.