Born in Sekondi, Ghana, Philip Kwame Apagya was the son of a photographer and apprenticed in his father’s studio as a boy. He studied photojournalism at the Accra School of Journalism before opening his own studio in Shama, on Ghana’s west coast, in 1982. He is known today for his studio portraits made using brightly coloured backdrops.

Apagya’s work is in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Jean Pigozzi.

Apagya’s works have been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Sheldon Art Galleries in Nebraska, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among other venues. His photographs are in many collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.

Apagya is represented by Fifty One Fine Art Photography in Antwerp, Belgium.