Heather Agyepong

{{Short description|British photographer, visual artist and performer/actor}}

{{Infobox artist

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| birth_name = Heather Akosua Agyepong

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1990}}

| birth_place = London

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| known_for = Photography, visual art, acting

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| website = {{URL|www.heatheragyepong.com}}

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Heather Agyepong (born 1990){{Cite web |title=Heather Agyepong - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp169705/heather-agyepong |access-date=2025-06-26 |website=www.npg.org.uk |language=en}} is a British-Ghanaian photographer, visual artist and actor, living in London.

Early life and education

Agyepong was born and raised in London and is of Ghanaian heritage.{{cite news|accessdate=2021-04-09|title=The photographer who became a warrior|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-41913330|newspaper=BBC News|date=17 November 2017}} Her mother moved to England from Ghana in her teenage years.{{Cite web |last=Sampson |first=Annabel |date=2023-03-31 |title=Introducing Heather Agyepong: why the radiant star of the 'intoxicating' Shifters ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠is one to watch |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/the-power-heather-agyepong-interview-amazon-prime-actor-photographer |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Tatler |language=en-GB}} 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.{{cite web|accessdate=2021-04-09|title=CV|url=http://www.heatheragyepong.com/cv|website=Heather Agyepong}}

Career

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 Photography, 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.

In 2024, Nikon released a short film titled The Mind in Focus, in which Agyepong describes how photography connects with her mental health.{{Cite web |last=Helm |first=Leonie |date=2024-11-20 |title=Nikon ambassador Heather Agyepong explores how photography can be a healing tool for mental health |url=https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/news/nikon-ambassador-heather-agyepong-explores-how-photography-can-be-a-healing-tool-for-mental-health |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=digitalcameraworld |language=en}}

For her photography, she has been awarded the Photo London x Nikon Emerging Photographer Award and the Photographers Gallery New Talent Award.

= Visual arts =

Wish You Were Here was a work commissioned by the Hyman Collection.{{Cite web|url=https://arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/art-in-the-city-heather-agyepong/|title=TALKS | ART IN THE CITY - Heather Agyepong|publisher=Arnolfini}} In it, Agyepong channels the American vaudeville performer Aida Overton Walker, by posing for a series of fake postcards.{{cite news|accessdate=2021-04-09|title=2 Art Gallery Shows to Explore From Home|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/arts/design/art-shows-to-see-from-home.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 May 2020|issn=0362-4331}} The work addresses physical and mental wellbeing.{{cite web|accessdate=2021-04-09|title=Aesthetica Magazine - Making the Space|url=https://aestheticamagazine.com/making-the-space/|website=Aesthetica Magazine}}

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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.tramway.org/event/9314842f-eadb-4975-817a-ad98008f22a7|title=DIG 21: Heather Agyepong | The Body Remembers|website=Tramway|date=15 October 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://theatreweekly.com/fuel-presents-the-body-remembers-by-heather-agyepong-exploring-trauma-healing-in-the-lives-of-black-british-women/|title=Fuel Presents The Body Remembers By Heather Agyepong Exploring Trauma & Healing In The Lives Of Black British Women|website=Theatre Weekly|date=August 4, 2021}}

= 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.{{Cite web |last=Dillon |first=Luke |date=2025-03-04 |title=Olivier Awards 2025 Nominations Announced |url=https://www.westendtheatre.com/278375/news/awards/olivier-awards-2025-nominations-announced/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=www.westendtheatre.com |language=en-GB}} 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."{{Cite news |last=Saville |first=Alice |date=2024-08-22 |title=Epic new romcom Shifters has West End audiences swooning – review |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/shifters-review-west-end-benedict-lombe-b2599597.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241226084135/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/shifters-review-west-end-benedict-lombe-b2599597.html |archive-date=2024-12-26 |access-date=2025-03-15 |work=The Independent |language=en-GB}}

In her acting, Agyepong cites Viola Davis and Michaela Coel as major influences.

= 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.{{Cite web |last=Bardsley |first=Ella |date=2024-12-13 |title=Heather Agyepong Features In Wonderland's Winter 24 Issue |url=https://www.wonderlandmagazine.com/2024/12/13/heather-agyepong-2/ |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=Wonderland |language=en-GB}}

Personal life

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."{{Cite web |last=Seymour |first=Tom |date=2023-03-28 |title=MoMA apologises to artist Heather Agyepong, who was ejected from exhibit intended as safe space for Black visitors |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/03/28/moma-apologises-heather-agyepong-ejected-black-power-naps |access-date=2025-03-15 |website=The Art Newspaper |language=en}} '''

Group photography exhibitions

Starting Something New: Recent Contemporary Art Acquisitions and Gifts, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, 2019–2021{{cite web|accessdate=2021-04-09|title=Starting Something New: Recent Contemporary Art Acquisitions and Gifts|url=https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/exhibitions/2019/starting-something-new-recent-contemporary-art-acquisitions-and-gifts|website=Amherst College|date=2019}}
Wish You Were Here, Format Festival, Derby, 2021{{cite web|accessdate=2021-04-09|first=Sean|last1=O'Hagan|authorlink=Sean O'Hagan (journalist)|title=New year arts: Observer critics pick the culture to get us through to spring|url=http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jan/03/new-year-arts-observer-critics-pick-the-culture-to-get-us-through-to-spring|date=3 January 2021|website=The Observer}}

Awards

Jerwood Foundation New Work Fund award for The Body Remembers{{Cite web|url=https://jerwoodarts.org/projects/heather-agyepong/|title=Heather Agyepong – Jerwood Arts|access-date=18 September 2021|archive-date=30 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130072339/https://jerwoodarts.org/projects/heather-agyepong/|url-status=dead}}
2018: Nominated, South Bank Sky Arts Breakthrough Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-stars-of-the-future-vie-for-top-prize-at-the-south-bank-sky-arts-awards-220x2b0gz|title=The stars of the future vie for top prize at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards|newspaper=The Times|date=29 May 2018}}
2021: Co-winner, with Joanne Coates, Jerwood/Photoworks Awards – a £15,000 award.{{cite web|access-date=2021-09-21|title=Announcing Heather Agyepong and Joanne Coates Awardees of the fourth Jerwood/Photoworks Awards|url=https://photoworks.org.uk/news/announcing-heather-agyepong-and-joanne-coates-awardees-of-the-fourth-jerwood-photoworks-awards/|website=Photoworks}}
2025: Best Actress nomination for Shifters, Olivier Awards

Filmography

=Film=

class=wikitable
Year !Title !Role !Notes
2020 \| Sylvia \| Kemi \| Short film
2023 \| Snowfalls in the Summer \| Young Anita \| Short film

class=wikitable

Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

2020

| Sylvia

| Kemi

| Short film

2023

| Snowfalls in the Summer

| Young Anita

| Short film

=Television=

class=wikitable
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

class=wikitable

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=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Venue ! Notes
2013 \| Antigone \| Tiresias \| T24 Drama, Canterbury \|
2015 \| 4.48 Psychosis \| Voice #2 \| T24 Drama, Canterbury \|
rowspan="4"\|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
rowspan="4"\|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)

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Venue

! Notes

2013

| Antigone

| Tiresias

| T24 Drama, Canterbury

2015

| 4.48 Psychosis