Meet Felicia Ansah Abban Ghana’s 1st female and Nkrumah's professional photographer

At only 14 years, Felicia Ansah Abban, became her father’s apprentice and spent the next four years working under his meticulous eye, which would set her up to become Ghana’s first female professional photographer.

In her 50-year career, Abban, worked as a photographer for Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, for many years during the 1960s.

Ghanaianmuseum.com details that, as a toddler, Felicia Ansah Abban frequented her father’s photography studio in Sekondi-Takoradi, Western region, where she was born in 1935.

Being the eldest of six children, Abban became her father’s apprentice at the age of 14 and spent the next four years working under his meticulous and methodological eye before leaving her hometown for Accra at 18 as a newly married young woman to set up her own photo studio.

Felicia was married to Robert Abban (late), the man who designed the fabric which had Kwame Nkrumah’s portrait designed on flowers with Ghana map for Ghana’s independence day celebrations in 1957.

According to Ghanaianmuseum.com, the first public display of her work was staged at ANO’s gallery in March 2017 and the gallery has plans of transforming her studio into a museum in her honour.

The museum, when completed, will help preserve her work further serving as a hub to support upcoming artists.

Abban’s private photo collection consists of photos she often takes of herself before she attended events.

She retired from photography as a result of a worsening arthritis condition.