Synopsis:
Since the early 1980s, the groundbreaking filmmaker John Akomfrah has created enormous, multi-channel video installations that blend archival and original footage and audio. This documentary portrait captures John on-location and at his East London studio and explores epic art works that connect the global legacies of slavery and colonialism to present day environmental degradation and his own personal biography. While visiting the Tate Britain, John recounts his artistic beginnings, from his fascination with the British Romantic painters John Constable and J.M.W. Turner to his co-founding of the pioneering Black Audio Film Collective. Shooting a new film on location in outside New Orleans, Louisiana and editing footage in his studio, John works collaboratively, often with long time colleagues and family. Explains the artist, “I’m more choreographer than creator.” The artist highlights some recent projects—”Vertigo Sea”, “Purple”, and “Four Nocturnes”—and contextualizes the greater forces that have shaped his life and work: his upbringing in Ghana at a time of political unrest, his family’s subsequent immigration to Britain, the hazardous effects of living next to a London power station, and the xenophobic atmosphere of London during Brexit. “Once you’ve understood that you’re a product of things,” the artist says, “you can’t shake off realizing that from across your life.”
Country:
United States
Directed by:
Ian Forster