Carlos Idun-Tawiah has recently won the Belfast Photo Festival Spotlight Award for his ongoing series, Boys Will Always be Boys. The fast-emerging Ghanaian photographer and filmmaker is deeply inspired by the history of African portrait and street photography to create visual stories steeped in nostalgia and conviviality. His work draws on his family’s analogue photo albums to invent new narratives that celebrate Black life now, and way back when. Like his other CAP Prize-winning series, Sunday Special (which has been selected by the British Journal of Photography and Galerie Huit Arles for OpenWalls Arles, 5 Jul - 23 Sept), this body of work looks to Idun-Tawiah’s local community to recreate his boyhood memories of Accra. From playing a game of keepy-uppy and sparring in the boxing ring to embracing moments of harmless mischief on the way home from school, the artist honours his brothers from other mothers with warmth and pride.

What can you tell us about this series?

It’s a requiem of my childhood friendships and that of many people who grew up in communal environments. This is my way of highlighting the joy of friendships among boys, and how quickly yet deeply we get connected to each other through leisure, our aspirations and even over our competitiveness. I also sought to express how the mundane things could mean so much. A 9-inch ball brought us together on a dusty pitch for hours, and flying kites or chasing sunsets at the beach felt like therapy for us. I want to open up a dialogue about how simple life could be if we saw each other as family.

How did you first fall in love with photography?

Growing up, my late dad would buy all of these disposable Polaroid cameras because he really liked to document our growth and he would keep the prints of us with him whenever he travelled for work. I got more intrigued as I saw photographers in our local church on Sundays. The process of getting our portraits taken, combing through the prints and selecting our favourites was fascinating. It was exciting to fill the family album one page at a time. Subsequently, Tumblr became my safe haven. Eventually, I got my first DSLR camera in 2015 (the last gift I received from my dad), and I haven’t put it down since.

Which artists have inspired your practice, and this project?

I’m heavily influenced by the dossiers of James Barnor, Malick Sidibé, Roy Decarava, Gordon Parks, Alex Webb, Samuel Fosso, and so many others. I love how they were able to extract the ethos of the vernacular. Considering this particular story was a memoir of my past, I tried to assume this classical aesthetic. I wanted the images to be somewhat stylised but still organic so I allowed by my subjects to do what they wanted to in the settings I placed them in. It was pretty seamless working with friends and strangers that understood me because they also share these memories.

Can you talk us through one of the images and what it means to you?

‘Taya Man No Be Lazy Man’ is a popular Ghanaian Pidgin phrase meaning ‘A Tired Man Is Not A Lazy Man’. In my bid to question the unawareness that sometimes comes with growing up in privileged positions, this photograph depicts the reality for some boys who secretly worked to fund their tuition. They were called lazy for failing a course when on the contrary they worked harder than anyone else in the class. These young boys played the roles of both father and son but were given their flowers for none.

How do you hope viewers will respond to the project?

My target wasn’t to appeal to the eye or the head, but to the heart. I want to know how a little kid standing in front of these photographs will feel. If anyone feels half as much joy and love as the team and I did creating this body of work, then I believe my work is done. I also hope everyone, however old or young, feels the urge to play and to feel the essence of being and belonging. Life is beautiful and should be experienced around the people, places and pleasures that make us realise that.