John Akomfrah

A brand new publication presenting a career of work by the respected British artist and film-maker John Akomfrah.
This major new catalogue will document the exhibition of new and previous work by the acclaimed artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah (b. 1957, Accra, Ghana). Deftly layering archival and newly-filmed footage and sound, Akomfrah's ambitious, multi-channel installations investigate themes of post-colonialism, ecology, memory and history, exploring the experiences of migrant diasporas globally. Akomfrah was also a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, whose award-winning first film Handsworth Songs (1986) was filmed during the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London.
The exhibition will showcase a significant new commission, as well as the UK premiere of Four Nocturnes (2019), a moving three-channel installation that reflects on the complex relationship between humanity's destruction of the natural world and ourselves, originally presented at the celebrated first Ghana Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale. In addition, a programme of Akomfrah and Black Audio Film Collective's major single channel works will be featured alongside never before exhibited archival material.

Laura Smith is Curator at Whitechapel Gallery.