Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah is an artist based in Zurich, Switzerland. Her work centres upon the colour darkroom, where she uses the materials of photography – paper, light and time – to investigate familial bonds, personal loss, identity and structures of institutional power. Here Akosua speaks about Van Gogh, dance, folding clothes and the writings of Zora Neale Hurston.

The Festival Q+A

What did you want to be when you were growing up? An artist, an inventor, a horse trainer.

Can you remember the first photograph that inspired you to be an artist? I was never particularly into photography. Work that truly moved me always came from painting. When I was 7, it came through Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso; my grandmother had so many books about him and I was drawn to the black-and-white photographs taken in his studio. I wanted to live like this. A few years later, I discovered Amedeo Modigliani and to this day he remains one of the most important artists to me.

What is the worst job you have ever done? I always needed money and enjoyed working so I rarely dreaded it. I guess the only really terrible one was in retail, refolding perfectly folded clothes so it looked as if I was busy doing things. I left after a month and went back to waiting tables for less than half of the money because it was more engaging. I suffer under inefficient, useless tasks.

Who do you admire and why? I admire so many people. But the first that came to mind (after my father) is my dance teacher. He’s Cuban and made it to Switzerland through dance, learned several different languages in which he teaches. He has endless energy and sees every single detail, knows exactly when to point out which mistake, for whom to repeat a sequence or movement, switches between male and female roles so effortlessly, has incredible musicality, I miss him.

Where do you feel at home? Among people I feel truly comfortable being myself with, in the colour darkroom, on horseback, on my bike riding through Zürich, on long road trips with my dog Mingus.

What is your greatest fear? Sadness.

What is your most treasured possession? I love books, things, objects, colors, instruments, but have trouble coming up with an answer. It feels like I should say “my negatives” but I don’t feel that way. My dance shoes maybe? Or probably actually my negatives.

What do you think people often overlook or misunderstand in relation to your work? I feel mostly understood by the people I engage and work with. Maybe a technical thing comes to mind: most people in art, including many experts in photography, have no or very little understanding of what a practice in the color darkroom, especially working with large-scale formats, really entails.

What advice would you give to your younger self? Don’t make yourself small so that others feel comfortable, be confident in your strength and not ashamed of it, and if others believe that you have what it takes, believe it too. Don’t be so scared of being hopeful.        

If you could study any subject, what would it be? A few selects of a long list: Japanese, Twi, Arabic. Contemporary dance, cello, tango. And I would study and finish mathematics. I started it and dropped out before arts, a chip on my shoulder.

What currently inspires you?

Books:

  • The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck
  • Barracoon – The Story of The Last Slave by Zora Neale Hurston
  • Touching The Rock by John Hull.

Music and dance: Rumba Cubana, Yambu, Guaguanco, Son Cubano, timba. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Philip Glass.

Akosua Viktoria Adu-Sanyah is a German-Ghanaian artist and photographer based in Zürich, Switzerland. Her work centres upon the colour darkroom, where she uses the materials of photography – paper, light and time – to investigate familial bonds, personal loss, identity and structures of institutional power. The work created emphasises the process of its making; particularly the journey from initial ideas and research research to the creation of a photographic object that is imbued with feeling and emotion.

She has held exhibitions across Europe, including: Centre Photographie Genéve (CH), Photoforum Pasquart (CH), Saarland Museum (DE) & Foam Museum (NL). Her work is held in the permanent collections of both the city and canton of Zurich, the Swiss Photography Foundation (Fotostiftung Schweiz), Fotomuseum Winterthur and the city of Saarbrücken. In 2024, she was the recipient of the Swiss Art Award. She is the author of one monograph, Rough Tide (edition fink, 2024).

Akosua is currently developing a new body of work in response to the histories of Bristol’s Georgian House Museum, to be exhibited throughout the festival. Attend her exhibition or buy a ticket to our artist symposium to find out more.