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John Akomfrah

John Akomfrah is a hugely respected artist and filmmaker, whose works are characterised by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality and aesthetics and often explore the experiences of migrant diasporas globally. Akomfrah was a founding member of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, which started in London in 1982 alongside artists David Lawson and Lina Gopaul, who he still collaborates with today alongside Ashitey Akomfrah as Smoking Dogs Films. Their first film, Handsworth Songs (1986) explored events surrounding the 1985 riots in Birmingham and London through a charged combination of archive footage, still photos, newly shot material and newsreel. The film won several international prizes and established a multi-layered visual style that has become a recognisable motif of Akomfrah’s practice. Other works include the three-screen installation The Unfinished Conversation (2012), a moving portrait of the cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s life and work; Peripeteia (2012), an imagined drama visualising the lives of individuals included in two 16th century portraits by Albrecht Dürer and Mnemosyne (2010) which exposes experiences of migrants in the UK, questioning the notion of Britain as a promised land by revealing the realities of economic hardship and casual racism.

In 2015, Akomfrah premiered his three-screen film installation Vertigo Sea (2015), which explores what Ralph Waldo Emerson calls ‘the sublime seas’. Fusing archival material, readings from classical sources and newly shot footage, Vertigo Sea highlights the cruelty of the whaling industry and juxtaposes it with scenes of many generations of migrants making epic crossings of the ocean for a better life. In 2017, Akomfrah presented Purple (2017), which addresses climate change, human communities and wilderness; and Precarity (2017), following the life of forgotten New Orleans jazz trumpeter Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden. In 2018, Akomfrah participated in the UK wide World War One arts programme 14-18 Now, with his multiscreen installation Mimesis: African Soldier (2018), which commemorated African and colonial participants who fought, served and perished during The Great War. In 2019 Akomfrah presented Four Nocturnes (2019) in the Ghana Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, a three-channel piece reflecting on the intertwined relationship between humanity’s destruction of the natural world and our of ourselves. In 2023, he premiered two major five channel films at the 15th Sharjah Biennial: Arcadia (2023), reflecting on ‘The Columbian Exchange’ between the Americas, Afro-Eurasia and Europe from the 1400s onwards; and Becoming Wind (2023), an allegorical representation of the Garden of Eden and its disappearance. In 2024 Akomfrah presented a new body of work entitled Listening All Night to the Rain in the British Pavilion in Venice, commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Akomfrah (born 1957) lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include the British Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2024); The Box, Plymouth, UK (2023); Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany (2023); Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (2023) and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., USA (2022); Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada (2022); Towner Eastbourne, UK (2021); Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain (2021); Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla, Spain (2020); Seattle Art Museum, WA, USA (2020); Secession, Vienna, Austria (2020); BALTIC, Gateshead, UK (2019); ICA Boston, MA, USA (2019); Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal (2018); New Museum, New York, NY, USA (2018); Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (2015, 2018); SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA, USA (2018); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain (2018); Barbican, London, UK (2017). Recent international group exhibitions include ‘Entangles pasts, 1768-now’, Royal Academy, London, UK (2024); ‘Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present’, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2023); ‘Global Ghana’, The Africa Institute, Sharjah, UAE and Accra, Ghana (2022); ‘Fault Lines’, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, USA (2022); ‘Posteriority’, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, South Korea (2021); ‘Family – Visions of a shared humanity’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2021); ‘Am I Human To You?’, Art Museum KUBE, Alesund, Norway (2021); ‘Affect Machine: Self-healing in the Post-Capitalist Era’, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan (2021); ‘Terminal’, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (2020); Ghana Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2019); ‘Strange Days: Memories of the Future’, New Museum x The Store, London, UK (2018); ‘Histórias Afro-Atlânticas’, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); ‘From where I stand, my eye will send a light to you in the North’, Te Tuhi Museum, Auckland, New Zealand (2018); Prospect 4, New Orleans, LA, USA (2017); ‘Restless Earth’, La Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy (2017); ‘Unfinished Conversations’, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY, USA (2017); ‘British Art Show 8’ (2015-17); ‘All the World’s Futures’, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2015); ‘Africa Now: Politcal Patterns’, SeMA, Seoul, South Korea (2014); Sharjah Biennial 11, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (2013); Liverpool Biennial, UK (2012) and Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2012). Akomfrah was awarded the Artes Mundi Prize in 2017 and a Knighthood for services to the Arts in the 2023 New Year Honours.

Recent, current and forthcoming projects

 ‘John Akomfrah: Purple’, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (23 November 2022 - 7 January 2024)

‘Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America’, African American Museum in Philadelphia (23 March 2023 - 8 October 2023)

‘John Akomfrah: Five Murmurations’, National Museum of African Art (14 October 2023 - TBA) 

‘John Akomfrah. A Space of Empathy’, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (9 November 2023 - 28 January 2024)

‘John Akomfrah: Arcadia’, The Box Plymouth (18 November 2023 - 2024)

The British Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

John Akomfrah
Installation views of John Akomfrah: 'Listening All Night to the Rain', commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024.

© Smoking Dogs Films, © British Council

 

Purple, 2017

John Akomfrah
Purple, 2017

6 channel HD colour video installation with 15.1 surround sound
62 minutes
Courtesy Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Photographer Ron Blunt

Becoming Wind, 2023

John Akomfrah
Becoming Wind, 2023

Five channel HD video, colour, black & white, 7.1 surround sound
31 minutes 45 seconds
Courtesy Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 2023
Photographer: Norbert Miguletz

Arcadia, 2023

John Akomfrah
Arcadia, 2023

Five channel HD Video, colour, black and white, 15.1 surround sound
58 minutes 38 seconds
Commissioned by The Box Plymouth, UK; co-commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and Hartwig Art Foundation, Amsterdam, with the generous support of Polygreen Culture and Art Initiative (PCAI), Piraeus, Greece. Installation view: Sharjah Biennial 15, Al Mureijah Art Spaces, Sharjah, 2023.
Courtesy The Box, Plymouth
Photographer Dom Moore

Five Murmurations, 2021

John Akomfrah
Five Murmurations, 2021

Three channel HD black and white video installation
7:1 sound. 54 min 39 secs. 

Triptych, 2020

John Akomfrah
Triptych, 2020

Three channel HD colour video, 7.1 sound. 10 mins.
Courtesy African American Museum in Philadelphia
Photographer Constance Mensh

Four Nocturnes, 2019

John Akomfrah
Four Nocturnes, 2019

Three channel HD colour video installation
7.1 sound. 50 minutes

Vertigo Sea, 2015

John Akomfrah
Vertigo Sea, 2015

Three channel HD colour video installation, 7.1 sound 
48 minutes 30 seconds
Courtesy Arnolfini, Bristol
Photographer Stuart Whipps

The Unfinished Conversation, 2012

John Akomfrah
The Unfinished Conversation, 2012

Three channel video installation, 7.1 sound
45 minutes 48 seconds
Courtesy Smoking Dogs Films and MAC Birmingham
Photographer Ilona Zielinska

Peripeteia, 2012

John Akomfrah
Peripeteia, 2012

Single channel HD colour video, 5.1 sound
17 minutes 28 seconds

Transfigured Night, 2013

John Akomfrah
Transfigured Night, 2013

Two channel HD colour video installation, 5.1 sound
26 minutes 31 seconds
Courtesy Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, E-WERK Freiburg
Photographer: Marc Doradzillo

Auto Da Fé, 2016

John Akomfrah
Auto Da Fé, 2016

Two channel HD colour video installation, 5.1 sound
40 minutes 30 seconds
 

Untitled, 2016

John Akomfrah
Untitled, 2016

C-type print mounted on Dibond
Framed: 104.4 x 155.2 x 6 cm
41 3/4 x 62 x 2 3/8 in

Untitled, 2016

John Akomfrah
Untitled, 2016

C-type print mounted on Dibond
Framed: 104.4 x 155.2 x 6 cm
41 3/4 x 62 x 2 3/8 in
 

Preliminal Rites 4, 2017

John Akomfrah
Preliminal Rites 4, 2017

C-type print, mounted
Triptych: 155 x 206 x 4.5 cm each panel
Triptych: 61 x 81 1/8 x 1 3/4 in each panel
 

Preliminal Rites 8, 2017

John Akomfrah
Preliminal Rites 8, 2017

C-type print, mounted
Triptych: 152.4 x 203.2 cm (each panel)
Triptych: 60 x 80 in (each panel)
 

"The Monuments of Being” Series No.One, 2021

John Akomfrah
"The Monuments of Being” Series No.One, 2021

Giclee Print, Gold, Text
121.9 x 91.4 cm
48 x 36 in
 

"The Monuments of Being” Series No. Five, 2021

John Akomfrah
"The Monuments of Being” Series No. Five, 2021

Giclee Print, Gold, Text
121.9 x 91.4 cm
48 x 36 in
 

The Whiteness Was Not Consensual, 2021

John Akomfrah
The Whiteness Was Not Consensual, 2021

Inkjet print
Framed: 102.6 x 152.2 x 4.8 cm
Framed: 40 3/8 x 59 7/8 x 1 7/8 in
 

Our Skin Is The Monument, 2021

John Akomfrah
Our Skin Is The Monument, 2021

Giclee Print, Text
Framed: 103 x 153 x 5 cm
Framed: 40 1/2 x 60 1/4 x 2 in
 

We Are The Proof, 2021

John Akomfrah
We Are The Proof, 2021

Giclee Print, Text
152.4 x 101.6 cm
60 x 40 in
 

We Are The Proof, 2021

John Akomfrah
We Are The Proof, 2021

Giclee Print, Text
152.4 x 101.6 cm
60 x 40 in
 

The Wounding Light 1, 2023

John Akomfrah
The Wounding Light 1, 2023

Giclee print
Framed: 104 x 155 x 4.7 cm
Framed: 41 x 61 x 1 7/8 in
 

The Wounding Light 2, 2023

John Akomfrah
The Wounding Light 2, 2023

Giclee print
Framed: 104 x 155 x 4.7 cm
Framed: 41 x 61 x 1 7/8 in
 

The Wounding Light 4, 2023

John Akomfrah
The Wounding Light 4, 2023

Giclee print
Framed: 104 x 155 x 4.7 cm
41 x 61 x 1 7/8 in
 

The Wounding Light 4, 2023

John Akomfrah
The Wounding Light 4, 2023

Giclee print
Framed: 104 x 155 x 4.7 cm
41 x 61 x 1 7/8 in
 

Exhibitions

  1. John Akomfrah: The Airport - past exhibition

    John Akomfrah: The Airport

    27 May – 14 October 2023

  2. John Akomfrah: Five Murmurations - past exhibition

    John Akomfrah: Five Murmurations

    9 September – 16 October 2021

  3. John Akomfrah: The Unintended Beauty of Disaster - past exhibition

    John Akomfrah: The Unintended Beauty of Di...

    13 April – 10 July 2021

  4. Horizon - past exhibition

    Horizon

    6 October – 31 October 2020

  5. John Akomfrah  - past exhibition

    John Akomfrah

    24 June – 12 August 2016

  6. John Akomfrah  - past exhibition

    John Akomfrah

    22 January – 12 March 2016

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    John Akomfrah

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