Heather Agyepong
British photographer, visual artist and performer/actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heather Akosua Agyepong is a British-Ghanaian photographer, visual artist, performer and actor, living in London.
Life and education
Agyepong was born and raised in the Mitcham area of London and is of Ghanaian heritage.[1] Her mother moved to England from Ghana in her teenage years.[2] She earned a National Diploma in Performing Arts from City of Westminster College; a BSc in Applied Psychology from the University of Kent; and an MA in Photography & Urban Cultures from Goldsmiths, University of London.[3]
On March 25, 2023, Agyepong was asked to leave the Museum of Modern Art in New York City after a disagreement with another museum attendee at an exhibition called Black Power Naps. The museum subsequently issued a public apology, saying it will increase efforts to "protect the experiences of Black visitors and visitors from Indigenous communities and communities of colour."[4]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Agyepong is a multidisciplinary artist, who has worked in photography, visual art, theater, film, and television.
Photography
Agyepong's photography work has focused on mental health, activism and the African diaspora. It has been shown at the Tate Modern museum and the Centre for British Photoraphy, and is part of the collections at the Mead Art Museum, the Autograph ABP, the Hyman Collection, the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.[5][4]
In 2024, Nikon released a short film titled The Mind in Focus, in which Agyepong describes how photography connects with her mental health.[6]
For her photography, she has been awarded the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award and the Photographers Gallery New Talent Award.[4]
Visual arts
Wish You Were Here was a work commissioned by the Hyman Collection.[7] In it, Agyepong channels the American vaudeville performer Aida Overton Walker, by posing for a series of fake postcards.[8] The work addresses physical and mental wellbeing.[9]
Another of Agyepong's works is The Body Remembers, a solo performance that "explores how trauma lives in the body, particularly for Black British women across different generations."[10][11][6]
Theater
Agyepong has performed in several plays. She received recognition for her 2024 performance in Shifters, written by Benedict Lombe and directed by Lynette Linton. For that performance, she was nominated for "Best Actress" at the 2025 Olivier Awards.[12] In a review in The Independent, Alice Saville gave the play four out of five stars, saying, "Agyepong gives glimpses of vulnerability before building her walls up again, higher than before."[13]
In her acting, Agyepong cites Viola Davis and Michaela Coel as major influences.[2]
Television
In 2023, Agyepong starred in the Amazon Prime Video series The Power, based on the science fiction book by Naomi Alderman. As of 2025, she is part of the forthcoming Netflix project called Joy, which follows the story of the first baby conceived through in vitro fertilization.[14]
Group photography exhibitions
- Starting Something New: Recent Contemporary Art Acquisitions and Gifts, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2019–2021[5]
- Wish You Were Here, Format Festival, Derby, 2021[15]
Awards
- Jerwood Foundation New Work Fund award for The Body Remembers[16]
- 2018: Nominated, South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award[17]
- 2021: Co-winner, with Joanne Coates, Jerwood/Photoworks Awards – a £15,000 award.[18]
- 2025: Best Actress nomination for Shifters, Olivier Awards
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Sylvia | Kemi | Short film |
| 2023 | Snowfalls in the Summer | Young Anita | Short film |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Enterprice | Emily | Episode: "When We Roar, Dem Run" |
| 2022 | This Is Going to Hurt | Rachel | Miniseries; 1 episode |
| 2023 | The Power | Ndudi | Main cast |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Antigone | Tiresias | T24 Drama, Canterbury | |
| 2015 | 4.48 Psychosis | Voice #2 | T24 Drama, Canterbury | |
| 2016 | Switch | Matilda Swoon | Tricycle Theatre, London | |
| Still Barred | Yaz | Battersea Arts Centre, London | ||
| Hatch | Amma Boateng | Hackney Showroom, London | with Talawa Theatre Company | |
| Girls | Haleema | Soho Theatre, London | with Talawa Theatre Company | |
| 2017 | Jagged Edge | Colette | Rich Mix, London | |
| Best Friends | Vicky | Ovalhouse, London | ||
| So Many Reasons | Melissa | Ovalhouse, London | ||
| Sankara | Flore | Royal National Theatre, London | ||
| 2019 | Noughts & Crosses | Persephone Mira Hadley | Pilot Theatre, York | |
| 2022 | Celebrated Virgins | Sarah | Theatr Clwyd, Mold | |
| 2023 | School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play | Ama | Lyric Theatre, London | |
| 2024 | Shifters | Des | Bush Theatre, London (then West End Transfer Duke of York) |
Collections
Agyepong's work is held in the following permanent collection:
- Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts[5]
References
External links
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