As Our Hearts Bow

A new exhibition of Eric Asamoah, one of the foremost Austrian photographers, centered on a series of family photographs and a cherished heirloom.

The Austrian photographer Eric Asamoah uses portrait photography to explore questions of identity, memory, and belonging, informed by transnational perspectives and lived experiences within the Ghanaian diaspora. Through his subtle, contemplative portraits, he examines how individuals are seen and how they choose to be represented.
Asamoah's new project As Our Hearts Bow brings together two threads: in the first part of the project, he engages with photographs from albums dating from the 1970s to the 1990s, mainly taken by the women in his family. These images not only document everyday realities and special occasions, but also illuminate the transmission of the photographic eye across generations. In the second part, Asamoah builds upon his archival approach to create a conceptual series centered on the shoes of his grandmother, Lucy. Their aged leather surface hold visible traces of time and experience, quietly bearing witness to a layered life. This publication accompanies the exhibition As Our Hearts Bow at FOTO ARSENAL WIEN. With essays by Renée Mussai and curator Mona Schubert.